Amstrad, the British manufacturer of set-top boxes and other consumer electronics, is to vanish into the hide of BSkyB, the satellite TV firm to which it has been long-beholden. Sky is offering 150p for each share, making its total bid worth about $250m. Though now just another appliance maker, in the 1980s Amstrad was a serious contender in the 8-bit computer scene, its high-end CPC series part of a ruling triumvirate with Commodore's C64 and Sinclair's Spectrum (itself acquired by Amstrad.)
The firm—like many others—lost its grip on the computer market as the 16-bit era loomed. It moved on to the more prosaic arena of TV tuners and phone appliances, leaving behind a legacy of thousands of titles and many loyal fans. Amstrad has been nice to them over the years, having opened its massive back catalog of games to free use.
Company founder and supremo Sir Alan Sugar will stay in charge for the time being. I should expect that old Alan, Britain's presenter of hit TV show "The Apprentice," would rather not have woken up to every newspaper in the country headlining with "You're Fired!"
BSkyB Buys Amstrad [The Register]
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