Amiga's New Parent Company

March 27, 1997 - Gateway 2000 Acquires Assets of Amiga Technologies


April 2, 1997 - Dr. Amiga chats with Gateway's COO Rick Snyder

On March 27, 1997 the assets of Amiga Technologies were acquired by a very progressive American company - Gateway 2000.

Considering the fact that nobody (except maybe few people close to the deal) had a clue of this revelation - initially it was a bit of a shock (still is, actually). Here we had a company, who has been in business for the past 12 years in the IBM-compatible market. The company did very well, but there were never any ties whatsoever with the Amiga.

Looking at the situation after a few days of reports, comments and thoughts - a somewhat clearer picture is painted (in HAM8, of course). First, let's examine a few facts - Gateway 2000 has been in the business for 12 years, they have been very successful, especially considering the toughness and competitiveness of the IBM-compatible marketplace. They have been very unorthodox and very proactive in their approach to marketing, distributing and finally selling their products and services. I don't think there's one person in the USA, who has even mild interest in computers, who had not heard of their famous 'cow-oriented' approach to selling computers. So, all of these facts are very positive! The lingering question, however, remains "Why would a company, that's doing very well in the market that's by far the mainstream market, want to spend millions of dollars on a totally different technology company (AMIGA), who many PC industry 'experts' have written off?"

I had an opportunity to meet Rick Snyder, President & COO of Gateway 2000, at the Information Technology Expo that was held in Seattle on April 2, 1997. It turned out to be my pleasure to listen to this very eloquent and professional gentleman give a keynote speech and answer some of my questions as best as he could at the time.


I would describe Rick Snyder as a very humble COO, who is at the same time very passionate about his company. A lot of COO's are... well, too considerate of themselves and full of unrealized hype (we're located in Microsoft country, but don't let this fool you :). He's definitely different, coming across as a very caring individual, very determined and proud of his company's accomplishments and clearly understanding where he's going and why. With that clearness, however, he's still very much open to comments and suggestions from the most important people (according to him) - Gateway's customers.

Mr. Snyder gave a brief history of the company and immediately moved into the company's current philosophy and future direction. He described 'Value Circle' as the model for Gateway's business. As in a circle, the items listed below are being constantly employed in that order and then repleated from the top.

The Gateway 2000 Value Circle is comprised of the following items:

Mr. Snyder pointed out that very important attention is being addressed at Gateway to every one of the items listed.

Then he described Gateway's view of the computer purchasers. Basically, there are 3 groups of computer buyers: Enthusiast, Major Accounts, Consumer.

Gateway is trying to address the needs of each group. He mentioned that it's impossible to specifically break the categories, mostly because the Enthusiast group will usually not admit to be in that category (although from his qualification, I'd say that that is exactly where the Amiga community fits). Enthusiasts being people who want the latest and greatest and want it NOW!

Major Accounts, according to him, represent the business, corporate clientelle.

Consumer representing pretty much the home market, including tiny businesses (home businesses).

He indicated that every one of these categories is being given special attention at Gateway and every one is being addressed from a slightly different point of view, all the while keeping in mind the model of the Value Circle. He mentioned the word 'value' many times during his keynote address.

He explained that the future will bring a "more diverse" product line (that's where I figured he's talking about the Amiga, but he didn't specifically mention it at that time) and that the most important goal for Gateway 2000 is the "Total VALUE of Ownership". Some of the 'values' that he noted were "RESPECT, CARING TEAMWORK, COMMON SENSE, AGGRESSIVENESS, HONESTY, EFFICIENCY & FUN".

He talked about "building relationships" that included the "listening skills" and "openness".

He also talked about the profits model that Gateway 2000 adheres to. It's actually very simple, all they want is 5% Net after-tax profit! To be able to accomplish that they are operating under 19% profit margins. That's the entire money-making formula for Gateway 2000.

All of these statements were delivered with a genuine and unwavering belief in everything stated. The guy was very hard NOT to like and definitely impressed me with the delivery of the message and, much more importantly, the content of the message.


Mr. Snyder brought up a few facts about Gateway 2000 and they were impressive indeed. Gateway was started in 1985 (same year as Amiga) with 2 employees and the yearly gross income of $100,000 (although he stated that he thought the $100,000 was rounded using math that hasn't been invented yet). Currently the company employs 9700 people worldwide with $5 billion in sales. They represent 8% of USA desktops and 75% of the Fortune 1000 companies buy Gateway 2000 products. Gateway is currently #9 in worldwide shipments. They have 28 dedicated sales reps (for a lack of a better word) in the US and are planning to double that number very shortly (although I just read somewhere that the number is supposed to jump to 100).
Gateway 2000 vision is to be the best computer products reseller!
Before proceeding to Q&A session, Mr. Snyder concluded and summarized the main points:
During the Q&A I asked 1 (one) 3-part :_) question: "Why did Gateway buy Amiga Technologies, what they are planning to do with it and how soon can I get one of their fancy cow-colored boxes with an Amiga in it?"

Mr. Snyder replied that it's tough to be specific at this point. He said that when purchasing something during a bankruptcy, you're actually buying an equivalent of a large box with 'stuff' in it. You have an IDEA of what the stuff is, but no clue what the details of the contents are. Until you're given the permission to 'open the box', you can't begin to make any kind of concrete plans regarding it. Even though the offer has been accepted and there are several Gateway 2000 people in Germany working on the details, he has not heard everything from them and therefore does NOT want to mislead anyone or promise something that's not so (remember, what I said earlier about being in Microsoft country - this guy, very obviously, is taking a different approach).

After the keynote address, I decided to approach Mr. Snyder and do a follow-up... I asked him if Gateway had people who truly understand what it is that they've got and what can be done with it. I also told him a little bit about the Amiga community and how, if Gateway is to play their cards right, they could gain a small but significant army of their proponents. He didn't specifically say that yes, they did have people who understood, but his non-answer was more of an answer to me than if he gave me a direct response. He said that "Gateway could NOT let a technology like that die!" This is a direct quote from him to me!!!

So, from the above I gathered that even though the situation remains unknown and no specific plans or decisions have been relayed, I really liked what this guy had to say, I liked the company he represents and I liked the approach he's taking toward the future. Considering all of the turmoil with ownership of Amiga since the day it was invented - at this point I'd have to say that Amiga's future has NEVER looked brighter! I'm officially very glad that Gateway 2000 bought the Amiga Technologies. I'm very optimistic about their future plans and Amiga's future under them! From past experiences, I won't believe anything 100% until I SEE it, yet I remain, cautiously yet extremely optimistic.

Considering the name of the company, it's interesting that it matches Amiga community's sincere wishes to have some company be the GATEWAY to take Amiga into the year 2000 :) and beyond...