Amstrad
Amstrad was a British consumer electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar. During the 1980s, the company was known for its home computers beginning with the Amstrad CPC and later also the ZX Spectrum range after the Sinclair deal, which led it to have a substantial share of the PC market in Britain. In the following decade it shifted focus towards communication technologies, and its main business during the 2000s was the manufacture of satellite television set-top boxes for Sky, which Amstrad had started in 1989 as the then sole supplier of the emerging Sky TV service.
Sugar Tower in Brentwood, England (pictured in 2005) | |
Trade name | Amstrad |
|---|---|
| Formerly | AMS Trading Co (1968—) Amstrad plc (—5/1997) Betacom plc (1997) Amstrad plc (11/1997—9/2008) Amstrad Limited (9/2008—dormancy) |
| Company type | Private (1968—1980)
Public (1980—2007) Subsidiary (2007—2011) |
| Industry | Electronics |
| Founded | 1 November 1968 (original company) |
| Founder | Alan Sugar |
| Defunct | 2011 |
| Fate | Acquired by Sky (2007) |
| Headquarters | Kings Road, Brentwood, Essex, United Kingdom |
Area served | UK and Ireland |
| Revenue | £91.65 million (2006) |
| £26.94 million GBP (2006) | |
Net income | £15.08 million GBP (2006) |
Number of employees | 85 (2005) |
| Website | amstrad.com at the Wayback Machine (archived January 25, 2019) |
Headquartered in Brentwood, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1980 to 2008, the year when Sugar stepped down after 40 years. After acquiring Betacom and Viglen, Amstrad was broken up in 1997 but the name was soon revived when successor Betacom plc renamed itself to Amstrad plc. Amstrad was a FTSE 100 Index constituent up until the company was acquired by BSkyB in 2007 for £125 million. In 2010, Sky integrated Amstrad's satellite division as part of Sky so they could make their own set-top boxes in-house.