Founder of Commodore Resigns Unexpectedly

By Andrew Pollack
The New York Times

Los Angeles -- January 13, 1984 -- Jack Tramiel, the hard-driving executive who brought Commodore International to the top of the home computer market, resigned suddenly today as president and chief executive and as a director.

In a statement, Commodore quoted Mr. Tramiel as saying, ''Personal reasons prevent my continuing on a full-time basis with Commodore.'' Mr. Tramiel was reported to be traveling and unavailable for comment.

Report of Dispute With Chairman

One source said the resignation resulted from a long-running dispute between Mr. Tramiel and Irving Gould, the chairman. ''There was a problem between Irv and Jack,'' the source said. ''It was a problem over a long period of time and it finally came to a head.''

The dispute may have involved Mr. Tramiel's management style. Insiders say Mr. Tramiel ran the company like a one-man show, making it difficult for the company to recruit and retain executives.

The unexpected resignation came as Commodore was achieving its best performance ever: The company emerged from the price wars in the home computer sector last year as the clear leader in market share and profits as its competitors were hit by huge losses.

Commodore's revenues for 1983 surpassed $1 billion and its net income will exceed $100 million, the company estimates. For the quarter that ended Dec. 31, Commodore estimates revenues at $425 million, more than twice the $176 million of a year earlier.

Mr. Tramiel, who has survived everything from concentration camps to near-bankruptcy to a legal scandal, is thus leaving at the time of what should be his greatest triumph.

Steven A. Greenberg, a spokesman for Commodore, said Mr. Tramiel was not forced to resign. ''This is definitely Jack's decision based upon clear reasoning,'' he said.

Commodore said Mr. Tramiel would remain a consultant to the company.

It also said the board had has chosen a replacement for Mr. Tramiel, to be announced in a few days. Mr. Greenberg said the replacement was formerly president of a manufacturing company with more than $1 billion in annual revenues that is not in the computer business.

It is unclear what effect Mr. Tramiel's resignation will have on Commodore, but it is bound to be dramatic. Mr. Tramiel founded Commodore in 1955 and has built the company as the lowest-cost producer of home computers - and one that can change directions in an instant.

Commodore officials certainly gave little hint that trouble was brewing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this week, where a beaming Mr. Tramiel and other executives introduced a new line of home computers. Sig Hartmann, head of Commodore's software division, said Commodore executives had a surprise dinner for Mr. Tramiel at which Mr. Gould made a speech. Mr. Tramiel was presented with a silver platter with his colleagues' names inscribed.

Mr. Tramiel, who is 55 years old, was born in Poland and came to the United States in 1945 after his release from a concentration camp. In the 1950's, he started a typewriter manufacturing business in Canada.

In the mid-1960's, a scandal arose involving the Atlantic Acceptance Corporation, a Canadian finance company with close ties to Mr. Tramiel and Commodore. He was not indicted, however, and kept his business going with money from Mr. Gould, a Canadian financier who has been chairman ever since.

In the mid-1970's, Commodore was almost driven out of business when Texas Instruments, a supplier of computer chips to calculator makers like Commodore, went into the calculator business and slashed prices.

Mr. Tramiel vowed that Commodore would make its own chips to cut costs. That vertical integration and attention to cost-cutting helped Commodore survive the price wars which, ironically, forced Texas Instruments out of the home computer business.

Under Mr. Tramiel, Commodore introduced products if there was a market for them, even if the new product cut sales of an existing product. The Commodore 64, introduced about a year ago, was not compatible with the previous home computer, the VIC-20, and hurt sales of the VIC-20. But Mr. Tramiel maintained he would rather compete with himself than with others.