It was founded in 1979 as
Compudata, as an importer of American
microcomputers. Compudata was the distributor for Europe for the
Exidy Sorcerer, a
Zilog Z80-based
home computer. When Exidy gave up on the Sorcerer in 1979, Compudata licensed the design and manufactured them locally for several years. In 1983 it launched its own
PC, the Tulip PC. To achieve 100% compatibility it simply copied the
IBM PC, including the
BIOS. IBM sued, and after years of litigation, Tulip and IBM settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in 1989. It was listed on the
Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1984. In 1987, Compudata changed its name to Tulip Computers. Tulip made headlines among
Commodore computer enthusiasts when it acquired the Commodore brand name in September 1997, and made headlines again in 2003 and 2004, when it tried to grab a share of the games and entertainment markets with Commodore-branded products. In 2000, the
Government of Bangladesh cancelled a contract, funded by the
Dutch government, with Tulip Computers to supply computers. The Bangladesh government reported the price for the computers was too high. Tulip computers sued the Government of Bangladesh in a court in
The Hague and secured a verdict that awarded Tulip computer compensation. After supposedly making some headway in the market, it sold the Commodore name to Yeahronimo Media Ventures for €22 million. Negotiations began in the end of 2004; the transaction was completed in March 2005. On 27 September 2007, Tulip announced it wanted to buy back the Commodore brand for one dollar per share. Tulip thought it could make more profit by buying it again, due to the new activities of Commodore on other markets. On 26 June 2008, Tulip changed its name to Nedfield NV. Nedfield faced serious problems due to the
recession, and filed for suspension of payment after several of its subsidiaries went bankrupt. Nedfield NV itself was pronounced bankrupt by the district court of
Utrecht on 3 September 2009 and was
liquidated. == Sponsorships ==