SAN DIEGO — Gateway Inc., the No. 2 direct seller of personal computers, sold its Amiga trademark and remaining Amiga computers to Amino Development Corp., scrapping a plan to revive the multimedia pioneer it acquired two years ago.
Terms of the sale, which is effective immediately, weren't disclosed. Closely held Amino Development also purchased from Gateway the rights to Internet domain names, used for Web sites and e-mail addresses, that relate to Amiga.
Gateway, based in San Diego, gained the Amiga name in March 1997 with the purchase of Amiga Technologies, whose Amiga multimedia PC from the 1980s retained a core group of fans. The company said it decided to sell the brand after combining Amiga's software engineering with its own strategy to sell a line of scaled-down computers known as Internet appliances.
"Now that we're bringing that development work into Gateway product development, it made sense to find a buyer for Amiga," said Gateway Senior Vice President Peter Ashkin.
Gateway shares rose 1 15/16 to 72 1/16 in shortened trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock almost tripled in 1999.
Amiga was sold to Gateway by Escom AG, a German company that itself acquired the brand with the assets of Commodore International Inc. in 1995.