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Merisel’s December 2000 announcement was a withdrawal from U.S. computer hardware distribution—not an immediate shutdown of the entire company. The company planned to wind down the balance of its U.S. distribution business while keeping U.S. software licensing; its Canadian distribution operation was separate.
What Merisel announced in December 2000
On December 15, 2000, Merisel said it would exit the computer hardware distribution business and eliminate 200 jobs, reported as 25% of its global workforce. It expected the U.S. distribution wind-down to take about three months, according to the Los Angeles Times’ December 16, 2000 report.
The scope matters: Merisel planned to focus its U.S. distribution activity solely on software licensing, winding down the remaining U.S. distribution business, principally hardware. Its later SEC filing says the wind-down was substantially complete by the end of the first quarter of 2001.
Why Merisel withdrew from U.S. hardware distribution
Merisel cited declining sales and continuing substantial losses as the reasons for the decision, according to its retrospective account in the 2005 SEC filing. The financial figures reported at the time show the scale of the pressure: the Los Angeles Times said Merisel had lost $74 million on revenue of $1.9 billion in the first nine months of 2000. For the full year, EDN reported a net loss of $95.8 million on sales of $2.1 billion in its April 13, 2001 report.
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The move therefore narrowed the U.S. business rather than ending every Merisel operation at once. The immediate plan was to stop the hardware-heavy distribution activity and concentrate U.S. distribution on software licensing.
What continued, and what happened afterward
Merisel’s U.S. software licensing business continued beyond the hardware-distribution exit. The Canadian distribution operation also had a distinct timeline; it was not included in the December 2000 U.S. withdrawal announcement.
| Business or event | Geography | What happened | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware-heavy distribution wind-down | United States | Merisel planned to wind down the balance of U.S. distribution and focus on software licensing. | Decision announced December 15, 2000; substantially complete by the end of Q1 2001. |
| Distribution business sale | Canada | Merisel sold the Canadian distribution business to Synnex. | July 2001, documented in Merisel’s 2005 Form 10-K. |
| Software licensing business sale | United States | Merisel sold its software licensing business to D&H Services. | August 2004, documented in Merisel’s 2004 Form 10-K. |
The operational exit did not erase every obligation
Although the U.S. distribution wind-down was substantially complete by early 2001, Merisel still had obligations tied to that business, primarily leases and ongoing tax audits, according to the SEC filing. Closing or winding down operations can leave liabilities behind; the end of distribution activity did not mean every related matter was immediately settled.
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