Packard Bell Electronics, Inc.

A leading US computer vendor.

As recently as 29 November 1995 the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was having financial difficulties and that one of its major suppliers of CPUs, Intel, was about to make a large cash loan, so as to prevent loss of a major customer. Packard Bell is a privately held company and the WSJ also reported that NEC has been rumored to have bought a large minority block of shares to help the company stay in business.

Its computers are sold in major retail outlets in the USA and are available as a bundled package: desktop or tower 486 CPU, single 3.5 inch floppy disk drive, CD-ROM, sound card, 14 inch colour monitor, and 4-8MB of RAM.

1995 end-of-year prices in Computer Currents magazine (a California Bay Area bi-monthly giveaway publication) are US$1500 (approx. 1000 pounds) for a 486 desktop, with 8MB RAM, 420MB hard disk drive, single 3.5 inch floppy drive, 14 inch colour monitor, 2-speed CD-ROM, and 16-bit sound card.

Headquarters: Sacramento, California, USA.