Editing Commodore International (section)

{{short description|Home computer and electronics manufacturer}}
{{redirect-distinguish|1=C=|2=(= (disambiguation){{!}}(=}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Commodore International Corporation
| logo = Commodore logo.svg
| image = 
| image_caption = 
| founded = {{start date and age|1976}}<br />[[Nassau, The Bahamas|Nassau]], [[The Bahamas]]
| founders = [[Jack Tramiel]] and [[Irving Gould]]
| defunct = {{end date and age|1994|5|6}}
| fate = [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] and [[Liquidation]]; inventory and intellectual property acquired by [[Escom AG]] on April 22, 1995
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{Unbulleted list|[[NYSE American|AMEX]]: CBU|{{NYSE was|CBU}}|[[NYSE American|AMEX]]: CDRL}}
| successor = [[Escom AG]]
| hq_location = 1200 Wilson Drive
| hq_location_city = [[West Chester, Pennsylvania|West Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]]
| industry = [[Electronics]]<br />[[Computer hardware]]<br />[[Computer software]]
| key_people = {{unbulleted list|[[Jack Tramiel]]|[[Irving Gould]]|(Main investor and Chairman)}}
| products = [[Commodore PET]]<br />[[VIC-20]]<br />[[Commodore 64]]<br />[[Commodore 16]]<br />[[Commodore 128]]<br />[[Amiga]]<br />[[Amiga CD32|CD32]]
| subsid = [[Amiga Corporation]]<br />[[MOS Technology#Commodore Semiconductor Group|Commodore Semiconductor Group]]
| area_served = Worldwide
| hq_location_country = United States
}}

'''Commodore International Corporation'''{{Efn|Other names include Commodore International Limited}} was a [[home computer]] and electronics manufacturer with its head office in [[The Bahamas]] and its executive office in the United States founded in 1976 by [[Jack Tramiel]] and [[Irving Gould]]. It was the successor company to Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd., established in 1958 by Tramiel and Manfred Kapp. Commodore International (CI), along with its U.S. subsidiary Commodore Business Machines, Inc. (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the [[home computer]] industry, and at one point in the 1980s was the world's largest in the industry.

The company released its first home computer, the [[Commodore PET]], in 1977; it was followed by the [[VIC-20]], the first ever computer to reach one million units of sales. In 1982, the company developed and marketed the world's best selling computer, the [[Commodore 64]];<ref name="cnn.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/05/09/commodore.64.reborn/|title=The Commodore 64, that '80s computer icon, lives again|access-date=November 17, 2014}}</ref> its success made Commodore one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers, with sales peaking in the last quarter of 1983 at ${{Format price|49000000}} (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|49000000|1983}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}<ref>{{cite news |date=February 15, 1984 |title=COMMODORE CORP reports earnings for Qtr to Dec 31 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/15/business/commodore-corp-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html |url-access=limited |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> However an internal struggle led to co-founder Tramiel quitting, then rivalling Commodore under [[Atari Corporation]] joined by a number of other employees. Commodore in 1985 launched the [[Amiga 1000]] personal computer — running on [[AmigaOS]] featuring a full color [[Graphical user interface|graphical interface]] and [[preemptive multitasking]] — which would initially become a popular platform for [[computer games]] and creative software. The company did particularly well in European markets; in [[West Germany]], Commodore machines were ubiquitous as of 1989.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=1990-01-26 |title=COMMODORE FALLS ON TROUBLED TIMES |url=https://www.afr.com/companies/commodore-falls-on-troubled-times-19900126-kalsw |access-date=2024-09-22 |website=Australian Financial Review |language=en}}</ref>

The company's position started declining in the late 1980s amid internal conflicts and mismanagement, and while the [[Amiga]] line was popular, newer models failed to keep pace against competing [[IBM PC–compatible|IBM PC-compatibles]] and [[Apple Macintosh]]. By 1992, [[MS-DOS]] and 16-bit [[video game consoles]] offered by [[Nintendo]] and [[Sega]] had eroded Amiga's status as a solid gaming platform. Under co-founding chairman Irving Gould and president Mehdi Ali, Commodore filed for bankruptcy on April 29, 1994 and was soon [[liquidated]], with its assets purchased by German company [[Escom AG|Escom]]. The Amiga line was revitalized and continued to be developed by Escom until it too went bankrupt, in July 1996.<ref>[http://books.slashdot.org/books/06/11/15/1457205.shtml Slashdot book review - The Rise and Fall of Commodore by Brian Bagnall]</ref> Commodore's computer systems, mainly the C64 and Amiga series, retain a cult following decades after its demise.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 5, 2006 |title=Kidnapper's retro computer offers scant clues |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/05/austria.markoliver |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416212823/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/05/austria.markoliver |archive-date=April 16, 2017 |website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |quote=The beige-coloured machine was popular in the 1980s but is now considered an antique, though some electronic dance acts still use it. It has a cult following among some fans of retro computers.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ced Kurtz's Techman Texts: Andy's Amiga a cult computer favorite |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/business/technology/2014/04/29/Ced-Kurtz-s-Techman-Texts-Andy-s-Amiga-a-cult-computer-favorite/stories/201404290009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141018124319/http://www.post-gazette.com/business/technology/2014/04/29/Ced-Kurtz-s-Techman-Texts-Andy-s-Amiga-a-cult-computer-favorite/stories/201404290009 |archive-date=October 18, 2014}}</ref>

Commodore's assets have been passed through various companies since then. After [[Escom AG|Escom]]'s demise and liquidation, its core assets were sold to [[Gateway 2000]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Ernie |date=2019-08-07 |title=What Happened to Gateway, the Cow Computer Company? |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-globalization-broke-gateway-the-cow-computer-company/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref> while the Commodore brand name was eventually passed to [[Tulip Computers]] of the Netherlands, and remains under ownership of a Dutch company today. Gateway 2000 attempted but failed to market a modern Amiga, and eventually sold the copyrights, Amiga trademark and other intellectual properties to [[Amiga, Inc.]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE - PLAINTIFFS' OPPOSITION TO HYPERION ENTERTAINMENT CVBA'S MOTION TO DISMISS IN PART PLAINTIFFS' SECOND AMENDED COMPLAINT |url=https://docs.google.com/file/d/1jzdHwTZ28vbMxDpgVOVQzyXSFWyBR2NE/edit |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Google Docs}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=15 July 2020 |title=C-A Acquisition Corp. renamed to Amiga Corporation |url=https://amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2020-07-00032-EN.html |accessdate=15 July 2020 |publisher=Amiga-News.de}}</ref> while retaining the Commodore [[patents]], which are now under [[Acer Inc.|Acer]] since its acquisition of Gateway.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amiga 30 and the Unkillable Machine - IEEE Spectrum |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/amiga-30-and-the-unkillable-machine |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=spectrum.ieee.org |language=en}}</ref> Amiga Corp., a sister company of Cloanto, owns the Amiga properties since 2019. [[Hyperion Entertainment]] of Belgium has continued development of AmigaOS ([[AmigaOS 4|version 4]]) to this day under license, and have released [[AmigaOne]] computers based on [[PowerPC]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Purdy |first=Kevin |date=2022-10-17 |title=37-year-old Amiga platform gets updates to Linux kernel, AmigaOS SDK |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/37-year-old-amiga-platform-gets-updates-to-linux-kernel-amigaos-sdk/ |access-date=2024-09-21 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us}}</ref>