Editing Datapoint (section)

==Decline: 1980-1984==
By the early 1980s, Datapoint ranked as a [[Fortune 500]] company. Lead times were extending rapidly as demand for Datapoint products increased, leading to delivery delays and unhappy customers. Pressure to increase sales led to some questionable orders being accepted. Compounding this, many of the orders were simply placed to guarantee availability of the product at a future point when it was expected that actual orders would be in place. When these actual orders never materialized, the excess capacity and inventories initiated a financial collapse. Additionally, some of the actual customers went broke before paying their bills due to the [[Early 1980s recession|general business slowdown]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19820212&id=zrEwAAAAIBAJ&pg=2141,3534143|title=Did Datapoint insider know that ship was sinking?|publisher=Lakeland ledger|date=February 12, 1982|access-date=August 17, 2012}}</ref> Such factors forced Datapoint to reverse sales or to record substantial bad debts, which caused the company to lose $800 million of its [[market capitalization]] in a matter of a few months in early 1982. The [[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]] (SEC) ordered Datapoint to stop this practice.

After cancelling the ground breaking ceremony in a new headquarters building in March 1982,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/10/business/datapoint-delays-new-building.html|title=Datapoint Delays New Building|agency=Associated Press|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 10, 1982|access-date=August 17, 2012}}</ref> the factory in [[Waco, Texas]], closed in early 1982, and all Waco production transferred to the newer [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]] factory. The Ft. Worth Factory closed in 1985 as the company continued in a virtual free-fall, leaving the San Antonio factory (aka "9725") as the sole remaining factory in the US. Production shrank further and several San Antonio facilities were consolidated, with much factory space in 9725 being converted to offices to allow termination of office leases in the area. While numerous factory personnel moved from Waco to Ft. Worth, very few relocated from Ft. Worth to San Antonio, as the company was shrinking in size rapidly.