The Compaq Computer Company's early years of absolutely insane growth remain the stuff of legends. Founded in 1982. First year revenue? $111 million. 0 to $111 million. One year. IPO, December 1983. And year 2, 1984? $329 million revenue, 200% growth. Year 3, $504 million, 53% growth and the Fortune 500. Later, Compaq hit $1.2 billion in revenue for 1987, the fastest ever in history. Along the way, Compaq led an insurgency of IBM PC clone-makers against Big Blue, overwhelming the old lion and unlocking the PC standard for a new generation of PC-makers. That is when the problems began. The tragedy of Compaq is that they led the revolution. And then as it so often happens, the revolution turned on them. In this video, we take a look at the fall of Compaq.
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