Alan Sugar founded the business-software and consumer-electronics company Amstrad.
Sugar established Amstrad in 1968, initially using the name formed from his initials and the word trading. The company became known for affordable consumer electronics, including audio equipment, satellite television products and personal computers.
Amstrad's success made Sugar a major British entrepreneur before he became a television personality. He later served as a Dragon on Dragons' Den and became especially associated with sharp commercial judgments and questions about ownership, pricing and sales.
Amstrad is sometimes described only as a computer company because of its popular home computers, but its activities were broader. The company sold several categories of consumer technology, and that wider history explains Sugar's long-standing reputation as a product and distribution entrepreneur.