WhereIsAtlas · Computers

Commodore International

The Toronto typewriter business that became the world's largest home computer maker, launched the Commodore 64, bought the Amiga — and was liquidated in 1994, after which its brand name was sold on for another three decades

Defunct — Commodore International was the home computer company of the 1980s. Its predecessor was incorporated in Toronto in 1958 as a typewriter importer; the Bahamian parent was formed in 1976 by Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould. It made the PET (1977), the VIC-20 (1981) and the Commodore 64 (1982), the best-selling computer of its era, and in 1984 bought Amiga Corporation outright for $24 million. Tramiel left in January 1984 and took over Atari's consumer business the same year. Under chairman Irving Gould and president Mehdi Ali, Commodore announced bankruptcy and liquidation on 29 April 1994. Its assets went to the German PC maker Escom in April 1995, Escom failed in July 1996, and the Commodore brand name was then sold repeatedly — to Tulip Computers, to Yeahronimo Media Ventures, and through a chain of Dutch holding companies. On 9 June 2025 a new Delaware company, Commodore International Corporation, bought the trademarks, intellectual property and assets and began taking pre-orders for an FPGA-based Commodore 64 Ultimate.

Commodore International was founded in 1976 by Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould, with its head office in the Bahamas and its executive office in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It was the successor to Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd., which Tramiel and Manfred Kapp had incorporated in Toronto on 10 October 1958 as Commodore Portable Typewriter, Ltd. That business imported and sold typewriters, then adding machines, then calculators, and it went public on the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1962. In 1966, after a financing crisis that followed the collapse of the Atlantic Acceptance Corporation, Tramiel sold 17.9 per cent of the company to the financier Irving Gould for $500,000, and Gould became chairman.

The move into computing came out of a near-death experience in calculators. In 1975 Texas Instruments, which supplied most of Commodore's calculator parts, began selling its own machines at prices below Commodore's parts cost. Tramiel used a cash infusion from Gould to buy up second-source chip suppliers, including MOS Technology, to secure his supply. Chuck Peddle, who had designed MOS's 6502 processor, argued that calculators were finished and that the future was the home computer. The Commodore PET, a single-board machine in a metal case, arrived in 1977, and from that point Commodore was primarily a computer company.

The VIC-20 followed in 1981 at $299, advertised with William Shatner asking consumers why they would buy just a video game. It was the first computer to ship more than one million units, and sold about 2.5 million over its life. The Commodore 64 arrived in 1982 at $595, with custom chips that gave it sound and graphics far beyond its price; around 22 million were shipped, making it the best-selling computer in the world until the Raspberry Pi passed it in 2019. In 1983 Tramiel cut prices hard, starting the home computer war that drove Texas Instruments and others out of the market. By early 1984 Commodore had more than $1 billion in annual revenue and about $100 million in net income, while its competitors were posting losses.

Then the internal politics caught up with it. In January 1984 Tramiel resigned after disagreements with Gould, who replaced him with Marshall F. Smith, a steel executive with no computer or consumer marketing experience. In May 1984 Tramiel founded Tramel Technology; in July he bought Atari's consumer division from Warner Communications and renamed his company Atari Corporation, taking a number of Commodore engineers with him. Commodore sued four former engineers for theft of trade secrets, and Tramiel's side discovered an earlier Amiga contract and countersued.

That dispute mattered because Amiga was the future. Amiga Corporation had been short of money in 1984 and had taken a $500,000 loan from Atari that was repayable within the month, on terms that would have forfeited the Lorraine design to Atari had it not been repaid. Commodore, left without a next-generation machine, first discussed a $4 million licence and then offered $24 million to buy Amiga outright. The Amiga 1000 shipped in July 1985, running AmigaOS with a full-colour graphical interface and pre-emptive multitasking. The Amiga 500, released in 1987 alongside the more expandable Amiga 2000, became the best-selling model.

Commodore did well in Europe in particular; in West Germany its machines were close to ubiquitous by 1989. But the company's position began slipping in the late 1980s. Thomas Rattigan, who became chief executive in February 1986 and split the Amiga into a high-end and a cost-reduced line, was forced out in April 1987 in a power struggle with Gould — widely treated as the point at which the platform stopped being developed aggressively enough. By 1992 MS-DOS machines and 16-bit consoles from Nintendo and Sega had taken the Amiga's place as a games platform, and Commodore's newer models were not keeping pace with IBM PC compatibles and the Apple Macintosh.

Commodore announced voluntary bankruptcy and liquidation on 29 April 1994, with the board authorising the transfer of assets to trustees for the benefit of creditors. Commodore UK and the Dutch arm, Commodore B.V., briefly stayed in business selling old inventory; Commodore B.V. dissolved in early 1995. The only bidders left at the end were Dell and the German PC maker Escom. Escom won on 22 April 1995, beating Dell's bid by $6.6 million.

Escom separated the Commodore and Amiga operations, putting the latter into a division called Amiga Technologies, which re-released the Amiga 1200 and A4000T and developed the Amiga Walker prototype. But Escom over-expanded, declared bankruptcy on 15 July 1996 and was liquidated. Its Dutch arm, Escom B.V., survived, bought the Commodore brand from its failed parent and renamed itself Commodore B.V. A deal for the Chicago company VisCorp to buy Amiga Technologies fell through; Gateway 2000 bought that business and the Commodore patents in March 1997.

From there the brand name began a life of its own. Tulip Computers of the Netherlands acquired the Commodore brand in September 1997 and made Wintel machines under it. In late 2004 Tulip sold Commodore International B.V. to Yeahronimo Media Ventures, a Dutch music-download startup, for €22 million paid in instalments to 2010; the sale completed in March 2005. Yeahronimo renamed itself Commodore International Corporation and tried to relaunch the brand in gaming and consumer electronics, without success. In 2009 the American entity became Reunite Investments; in 2010 the brand was sold to Commodore Licensing B.V., a subsidiary of the Hong Kong company Asiarim; it was sold again on 7 November 2011, and the resulting dispute was resolved in the Southern District of New York on 16 December 2013 in favour of the new owners. The holder went through further names and ended as Commodore Corporation B.V.

Separately, the Commodore Semiconductor Group — the former MOS Technology, with its wafer fab in Norristown, Pennsylvania that Commodore had closed in 1992 — was bought by its own management in January 1995 and ran as GMT Microelectronics until the US Environmental Protection Agency shut the plant in 2001.

The current chapter began in June 2025. On 7 June, Commodore Corporation B.V. gave a group led by the retro-computing YouTuber Christian Simpson an option to buy the brand; on 9 June a new Commodore International Corporation was incorporated in Delaware and acquired all the trademarks, intellectual property and assets. Its technical advisers include Albert Charpentier and Dave Haynie, and Leonard Tramiel, son of the founder. Its first product is the Commodore 64 Ultimate, an FPGA-based re-creation of the C64, with pre-orders starting at $299 — the company's first hardware release in more than thirty years.

Timeline

  1. 1958 — Incorporated in Toronto: Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp incorporate Commodore Portable Typewriter, Ltd. to import portable typewriters into Canada. (Toronto)
  2. 1976 — The Bahamian parent: Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd. is dissolved and replaced by Commodore International; Commodore also buys chip maker MOS Technology. (The Bahamas)
  3. 1977 — The PET: The Commodore PET launches, and Commodore becomes primarily a computer company.
  4. 1981 — The VIC-20: Launched at $299, it becomes the first computer to ship more than one million units.
  5. 1982 — The Commodore 64: The C64 arrives at $595 with custom sound and graphics chips; about 22 million are eventually shipped.
  6. 1983 — The home computer war: Tramiel cuts prices hard, driving competitors out of the market; Commodore reaches about $1 billion in 1983 sales.
  7. 14 Jan 1984 — Tramiel resigns: After disagreements with chairman Irving Gould, Jack Tramiel quits; Gould installs Marshall F. Smith as his replacement. (New York)
  8. Jul 1984 — Tramiel takes Atari: Tramel Technology buys Atari's consumer division from Warner Communications and becomes Atari Corporation.
  9. 1984 — Commodore buys Amiga: Commodore pays $24 million for Amiga Corporation, after Atari had lent Amiga $500,000 secured on the Lorraine design.
  10. Jul 1985 — The Amiga 1000: The first Amiga ships, running AmigaOS with a colour interface and pre-emptive multitasking.
  11. 22 Apr 1987 — Rattigan is forced out: Chief executive Thomas Rattigan resigns in a power struggle with Gould, a break widely seen as the point the Amiga stopped keeping pace.
  12. 29 Apr 1994 — Bankruptcy and liquidation: Commodore announces voluntary bankruptcy, with assets transferred to trustees for creditors. (West Chester, Pennsylvania)
  13. 22 Apr 1995 — Escom wins the assets: Escom AG's bid beats Dell's by $6.6 million, and the Commodore and Amiga businesses are separated. (Germany)
  14. 15 Jul 1996 — Escom fails: Escom declares bankruptcy and is liquidated; its Dutch arm survives, buys the Commodore brand and becomes Commodore B.V. (Germany)
  15. Sep 1997 — Tulip buys the brand: Tulip Computers of the Netherlands acquires the Commodore brand and makes Wintel PCs under it. (Netherlands)
  16. 2005 — Yeahronimo takes over: Tulip completes the sale of Commodore International B.V. to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for €22 million, paid in instalments to 2010. (Netherlands)
  17. 16 Dec 2013 — The litigation ends: A dispute over the brand after a 2011 sale is resolved in the Southern District of New York in favour of the new owners. (New York)
  18. 9 Jun 2025 — A new Commodore International: A Delaware company of that name is incorporated and acquires all the trademarks, intellectual property and assets. (Delaware)
  19. 12 Jul 2025 — The Commodore 64 Ultimate: Pre-orders open at $299 for an FPGA-based re-creation of the C64, the brand's first hardware in over thirty years.

Quick facts

Legal names
Commodore International Limited / Commodore International Corporation
Predecessor
Commodore Portable Typewriter, Ltd., incorporated in Toronto on 10 October 1958
Parent formed
1976, Nassau, The Bahamas; executive office West Chester, Pennsylvania
Founders
Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould
Chairman
Irving Gould, from 1966 until the collapse
Landmark machines
PET (1977), VIC-20 (1981), Commodore 64 (1982), Amiga (1985)
Commodore 64
about 22 million shipped; best-selling computer until the Raspberry Pi passed it in 2019
Peak
more than $1 billion in annual revenue by early 1984
Tramiel's exit
resigned January 1984; bought Atari's consumer division in July 1984
Amiga purchase
$24 million for Amiga Corporation, completed 1984
Bankruptcy
voluntary liquidation announced 29 April 1994
Asset sale
Escom AG's bid won on 22 April 1995, beating Dell's by $6.6 million
Escom's failure
bankruptcy on 15 July 1996
Brand sold to
Tulip Computers, 1997; Yeahronimo Media Ventures, 2005
Brand holder to 2025
Commodore Corporation B.V. of the Netherlands
Revival
a new Commodore International Corporation incorporated in Delaware on 9 June 2025
First new product
the FPGA-based Commodore 64 Ultimate, from $299

Lineage — where the name went

One company from a Toronto typewriter importer to a Bahamian parent that owned the best-selling computer in the world — and then a brand name that was sold, resold and bought back into existence by 2025.

  1. 1958 — Jack Tramiel founded Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd (with Manfred Kapp, in Toronto)
  2. 1966 — Irving Gould acquired Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd (bought 17.9 per cent and became chairman)
  3. 1976 — Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd merged into Commodore International (the Canadian company was dissolved into a new Bahamian parent)
  4. Irving Gould served under Commodore International (chairman from 1966 until the 1994 collapse)
  5. 1976 — Commodore International acquired MOS Technology (bought the chip maker to secure its calculator supply)
  6. 1977 — Commodore International created Commodore PET (the machine that made Commodore a computer company)
  7. 1981 — Commodore International created VIC-20 (the first computer to ship more than a million units)
  8. 1982 — Commodore International created Commodore 64 (the best-selling computer of its era)
  9. 1984 — Jack Tramiel founded Atari Corporation (left Commodore in January and bought Atari's consumer division in July)
  10. 1984 — Commodore International acquired Amiga ($24 million for Amiga Corporation, paid after Atari had lent the company $500,000)
  11. 1995 — Commodore International acquired by Escom AG (Escom's bid on 22 April 1995 beat Dell's by $6.6 million)
  12. 1995 — Escom AG created Amiga Technologies GmbH (separated the Amiga business from the Commodore brand)
  13. 1997 — Gateway 2000 acquired Amiga Technologies GmbH (Gateway 2000 bought the Amiga business and the Commodore patents)
  14. 1997 — Escom AG sold Tulip Computers (the brand passed through Escom's surviving Dutch arm and on to Tulip Computers)
  15. 2005 — Tulip Computers sold Yeahronimo Media Ventures (the brand-holding business, for €22 million paid in instalments)
  16. 2013 — Yeahronimo Media Ventures rebranded as Commodore Corporation B.V. (after a further sale and litigation, the holder ended as Commodore Corporation B.V.)
  17. 2025 — Commodore Corporation B.V. sold Commodore International Corporation (all trademarks, intellectual property and assets)

Entities in this tree: Jack Tramiel (person, 1928); Irving Gould (person); Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd (company, 1958); Commodore International (company, 1976); MOS Technology (company, 1969); Commodore PET (product, 1977); VIC-20 (product, 1981); Commodore 64 (product, 1982); Amiga (product, 1985); Atari Corporation (company, 1984); Escom AG (company, 1995); Amiga Technologies GmbH (company, 1995); Gateway 2000 (company, 1985); Tulip Computers (company, 1997); Yeahronimo Media Ventures (company); Commodore Corporation B.V. (company); Commodore International Corporation (company, 2025)

Sources

  1. Commodore International — Wikipedia (2026-09-20)
  2. Founder of Commodore Resigns Unexpectedly — The New York Times (2026-09-20)
  3. Adios, Amiga and Commodore: From a Bang to a Whimper, PC Maker Closes Its Doors — The Washington Post (2026-09-20)
  4. A history of the Amiga, part 11: Between an Escom and a Gateway — Ars Technica (2026-09-20)
  5. A history of the Amiga, part 3: The first prototype — Ars Technica (2026-09-20)
  6. Commodore is Alive and Well and Now Part of Tulip in Holland — Tech Monitor (2026-09-20)
  7. Tulip offloads Commodore brand — The Register (2026-09-20)
  8. Commodore shocks retro TechTuber with option to buy the whole company — Tom's Hardware (2026-09-20)
  9. The Commodore 64 Ultimate computer is the company's first hardware release in over 30 years — pre-orders start at $299 — Tom's Hardware (2026-09-20)

Related: atari · amiga · compaq