Jack Tramiel, an Auschwitz survivor who founded Commodore as a typewriter repair service in 1954, was the CEO by 1989 when the VIC-20 was introduced. Jack was also known for this famous quote, "Computers for the masses, not the classes!"

Under Tramiel's deliberate guidance, Commodore grew into a $1 billion company, growing sevenfold from 1981 to 1984. It was one of the largest suppliers of home computers in the world. Tramiel flew in the face of the computer industry by enlisting mass merchants (K-Mart, Toys "R" Us, Target and others) to sell the VIC-20, and later the C-64. By doing so, he proved that computer buyers didn't need to rely on the hand-holding of an elite class of computer-literate sales people and their specialty store prices.

In 1984, Tramiel left Commodore. Tthe home computer market was failing, causing Mattel and Coleco to leave the business. Another company that decided to leave the industry was Warner Communications, which sold Atari to the newly unemployed Tramiel for a pittance. Shortly thereafter, a stream of Commodore executives followed him.

On April 29, 1994, Commodore International announced that it had been unable to renegotiate terms of its outstanding loans and was closing down the business.

On April 20, 1995, almost a full year later, Commodore was sold to the German company ESCOM for approx. 10-25 million dollars. During the summer of 1996, ESCOM also fell into receivership.

In 1997, Gateway 2000 bought Amiga Technologies, the last remnant of Commodore Int'l..