Escom

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This article is about the German computer manufacturer. For the South African electricity public utility formerly known as both ESCOM and EVKOM, see Eskom.

ESCOM, actually Eickmeyer Schmitt Computer Society Ltd., was a German computer company, best known in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and The Netherlands as the successful purchaser of Commodore International in 1995.

Escom was founded by Manfred Schmitt of Darmstadt, Germany as the computer division of his music company in 1986. It became a separate company in 1991. In 1993, it became a publicly traded company, and it grew rapidly, controlling 11.2% of the German PC market by 1994.

In 1995 Escom had bought many branches of the Rumbelows electrical chain which were being sold off by Rumbelows owner Thorn EMI thus giving Escom a retail presence on high streets in the United Kingdom. Also in 1995 Escom bought Commodore International for US$14 million, primarily to get the Commodore brand name. It started using the Commodore name on computers sold in Europe, and established a separate division for Amiga-related technologies. The company grew too quickly, however, and lost 185 million German Marks that year. With no bailout from its shareholders, the company declared bankruptcy on July 15, 1996 and was liquidated.

The Commodore assets were purchased the following year by Tulip Computers, and the Amiga assets by Gateway.