Im trying to under the history.....

[tonyankyfan1]

Greetings fellow CV followers and historians,

 

Im trying to understand the history here, I don't understand why A. GreenBerg & COLECO put a complete end to the COLECOVISION console, when in reality it was the ADAM that failed miserably. THE CV console was tremendous for its time and was a moneymaker for the company, so why put an end to something that is earning for you?!?!?. I think it was all premature in my opinion.

And why didn't some other company "buy out" COLECO and simply retain the name, as it was a legendary namesake and was putting out some awesome dolls and toys and games, even upto 1988. Something does'nt add up. COLECO was almost defunct 2 other times in history and bounced back, so they were capable, had a tremendous R&D dept. Massive warehouse complexes in both Amsterdam NY & Canada, Grant it HQ was in West Hartford. Im simply trying to understand how a company that has been around since 1932 can go out of business in 1988... I think A. Greenberg, had enough and wanted to head in another direction. I would love for him to answer my question. I am addicted to the history of this company, console, and games. LMAOOOOO

 

What do you guys think, some opinions, facts, on this topic above.

Thanks Anthony

Edited December 9, 2014 by tonyankyfan1

[tonyankyfan1]

Greetings fellow CV followers and historians,

 

Im trying to understand the history here, I don't understand why A. GreenBerg & COLECO put a complete end to the COLECOVISION console, when in reality it was the ADAM that failed miserably. THE CV console was tremendous for its time and was a moneymaker for the company, so why put an end to something that is earning for you?!?!?. I think it was all premature in my opinion. Coleco ended 1985 in its strongest financial condition ever, with sales of $776 million and record earnings of $64 million and record earnings of $64 million. And why didn't some other company "buy out" COLECO and simply retain the name, as it was a legendary namesake and was putting out some awesome dolls and toys and games, even upto 1988. Something does'nt add up. COLECO was almost defunct 2 other times in history and bounced back, so they were capable, had a tremendous R&D dept. Massive warehouse complexes in both Amsterdam NY & Canada, Grant it HQ was in West Hartford. Im simply trying to understand how a company that has been around since 1932 can go out of business in 1988... I think A. Greenberg, had enough and wanted to head in another direction. I would love for him to answer my question. I am addicted to the history of this company, console, and games. LMAOOOOO

 

What do you guys think, some opinions, facts, on this topic above.

Thanks Anthony

[tonyankyfan1]

READ BELOW.... With HASBRO looking to buy and all these other vulture companies around, No one merged, or bought them out?!!?!?.....

 

Hasbro to purchase Amsterdam Plant Coleco files for protection

July 12, 1988

The Leader-Herald

Coleco Industries Inc., which soared to the top of the toy industry in the mid-1980s with its Cabbage Patch Kids and then skidded into debt as the dolls' popularity waned, announced today it filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law.

Meanwhile, Hasbro Inc. says it has agreed to buy Coleco's manufacturing facilities in Amsterdam and at the company's line of indoor-outdoor children's furniture and ride-on divisions for $21 million.

Coleco said the bankruptcy-protection filing, which did not include its Canadian and other foreign subsidiaries, was made last night in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, The Associated Press reported.

The toy maker said the filing followed the refusal of its short-term bank lenders to agree to provide the company with an adequate working capital credit line.

The filing had been expected after Coleco was unable to persuade its bondholders to agree to a $335 million debt restructuring. The company lost $47.4 million in the quarter that ended April 2 and has suffered losses in four of the past five year.

Coleco owed more than $100 million to a group of foreign and domestic lenders.

In recent weeks, the company has tried to raise cash by selling off some of its product lines.

Coleco slashed its work force in an effort to cut costs. It currently has fewer than 600 employees in the United States, down from an average of 2,500 last year.

Besides Cabbage Patch Kids, Coleco manufactures Alf dolls, Big Wheels plastic tricycles and board games, such as Scrabble. Industry sources say the company holds about 5 percent of the nation's toy market.

Early last month, SLM Action Sports Inc. of Morrisville, N.C., announced it was buying Coleco's Mayfield plant and the company's line of plastic pool products.

The products to be purchased by Hasbro include plastic wading and splashing pools, pool filters, children's outdoor furniture and clubhouses and pedal- and battery-operated cycles.

Those lines helped launch Coleco in the toy business in 1956.

Analysts said the same aggressive management style that helped Coleco hit the jackpot with the gamble on Cabbage Patch Kids in 1983 helped bring on its troubles.

The dolls, introduced in 1983 after a number of other toy companies rejected the product, helped Coleco end 1985 in its strongest financial condition ever, with sales of $776 million and record earnings of $64 million and record earnings of $64 million.

But the Cabbage patch fad abated and analysts said the company did not pare its costs soon enough. When the toy industry suffered a slump in 1987, the company was hit particularly hard.

Coleco has faced tough times before, It entered the snowmobile business in 1972, but snowfalls were light for the next three years, the economy was depressed and losses were heavy.

The company posted a $22 million loss in 1978, threatening its survival. In 1980 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Coleco was misstating its financial results to mask troubles.

In 1982 the company began a move toward prosperity with the introduction of its ColecoVision home video-game system. The company saw its future in electronics, and in 1983 unveiled its $600 Adam home computer.

Adam was a monumental flop, while sales of ColecoVision cooled. The company lost $79.8 million in 1984 despite $540 million in sales of Cabbage Patch Kids.

Edited December 9, 2014 by tonyankyfan1

[Nebulon]

Thinking back to issues of Electronic Games and Electronic Fun I recall a number of proposed (and cancelled) ColecoVision expansion modules (including the Super Game Module and the laserdisc module).

 

I think in both cases, it cost them a lot of money to prototype these projects and that it likely left an impression in the heads of the execs that ColecoVision R&D was expensive. In truth though, it could have been a lot easier for them if they just kept working with the CV as it was originally configured and concentrated on larger cartridge ROMS as prices fell for the components. They could have made a longer run of it.

 

As for Adam, they really should have known that Z80-based home computers had already had their chance and started to be phased out even before the Adam was developed. It's strange that they'd pick that as a platform to offer the computer market for that year. I guess that's what happens when people react too impulsively to market trends without taking a careful look at emerging technologies and their closest competitors.

 

I should also add that they seemed to feel that the Adam would take the place of the ColecoVision (e.g. including the cartridge slot and controllers). So perhaps they cancelled the ColecoVision soon after the Adam shipped (not realizing that the Adam would turn out to have poor sales). Then the axe fell again, leaving us without the CV or the Adam as available products.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Nebulon

[ten-four]

Well, It can be hard for me to explain especially because I'm in Europe.

 

But I'll give it a try.

 

The ADAM Computer was not the only one who pulled Coleco down, it was a combination of several factors.

But because ADAM computer first edition, (The connected one) failed.

 

Was it a big cost to Coleco having to recall and correct errors in ADAM.

And because Coleco ADAM hurried through its production without proper to thoroughly test ADAM computer.

 

Also, ADAM was/is BIG very big.

You could have a home computer like Commodore 64, an all in one solution for filled much smaller in scale.

 

Even a Seikosha matrix printer was smaller in size than a Coleco printer.

 

Hasbro bought some rights to several popular brands that were in Colecos custody.

 

It is important for such a large company like Hasbro to "take over" those brands, then let the name "Coleco disappear into obscurity."

 

Coleco decided themselves, or was needed to sell off all its stuff in order to concentrate on less costly Things.

 

But I still think it was the ADAM Computer that drag ColecoVision Down.

 

But I still think it was the ADAM computer, which drew Colecovision with down in the fall.

 

But I also think that the large losses Coleco had their first ADAM computer, helped not to develop ColecoVision in a more sophisticated direction.

 

Coleco tried with a Super Game Module, but the solution with tape instead of cartridges failed and was yet another defeat for Coleco.

 

On the other hand, I think it went well for Coleco in Canada, and that perhaps they could have continued as a kind of independent division at a reconstruction of new investors.

 

Others... which have a different theory ?

[tonyankyfan1]

I think both NEBULON and TEN-FOUR have great points, It was def a combination of disasterous mistakes that added up. I just cannot seem to understand how and why, no other company did not have a mergers and acquicistion type deal, or at least give "COLECO" the brand name some staying power after the company was bought out. I think A. Greenberg just gave up, But how do you give up a company that Father started in 1932, it seemed like he was proud of his father's acheivements and wanted to carry on the torch, both him and his brother. I do know in 1985 up in West Hartford he donated a million dollars and opened up a synagogue or Yeshiva school in his fathers name, which currently still exists and promotes scholarships.

It puzzles me, that he would just quit. He seemed to have 9 lives, bounced back a few times....

[LynxVGL]

I think an interesting look at this is also Mattel's decision to dump Intellivision. The proposed Intellivision expansion/product line mirrors the Colecovision expansions in many ways. But the big tell is that both manufacturers were essentially toy companies that were beginning to invest in videogaming. Neither Mattel or Coleco stayed with it after the crash, despite pretty big installed console bases. From what I've seen online, both dropped their lines feeling that video games were dead post crash. Mattel went back to Barbie & Hot Wheels, and Coleco just floundered for awhile. Atari didn't exactly re-emerge from the crash unscathed at all, with Warner Communications dumping it to the Tramiels. Corporate culture thought gaming was dead, and it would really take Nintendo & Sega to revitalize it.