Quark, Inc.

At Quark, our mission is to develop world-class software that keeps you on the leading edge. The Internet has changed everything about the way you do business. Companies that adapt will thrive. Those that rely on outdated tools will be left behind. To be successful in an increasingly competitive global business environment, you have to know who your customers are, what they want, and the most effective way of delivering enormous amounts of data. How do you cope? That's where Quark comes in. We're developing an integrated suite of standards-based software solutions that helps you be successful in both print and Internet business, connect you to your customers, collect and analyze data, implement your business decisions, and see the results in real time. While you've been busy doing your job, we've been busy doing ours. Quark has the tools you need to meet the challenges of the future. Key Dates: Fred Ebrahami buys out Gill's original partner and becomes Quark's president and CEO. Quark introduces QuarkXPress, a new desktop publishing program for the Macintosh computer. Quark, Inc. is a privately held company focused on providing software for desktop publishing. Quark claims that more than one million users in more than 100 countries rely on Quark products to create, design, and manage their document production, including newspapers, magazines, books, CD-ROMs, catalogs, brochures, packaging, and online material. The company's flagship product is QuarkXPress, which was first introduced in 1987 when desktop publishing was in its infancy. Originally developed for use on Macintosh computers, QuarkXPress for Windows was introduced in 1992. The program is the market leader among professional users. Quark, Inc. was founded in 1981 in Denver by Tim Gill, a self-employed computer programmer who wrote the first word-processing program for the Apple III. He named the company after the subatomic particle designated as the building block of all matter. Gill went on to write a variety of text-processing programs for the Apple platform. In 1986 Fred Ebrahimi joined Quark as president and CEO, with Gill continuing as Quark's chairman and chief technology officer. Ebrahimi bought out Gill's original partner for $100,000 and became half-owner of the company, along with Gill. QuarkXPress was introduced in 1987, at a time when desktop publishing was in its infancy. The program offered precision typography, layout, and color control on a desktop computer. It was initially published only for use on Macintosh computers. QuarkXPress and the coming desktop publishing revolution represented a low-cost alternative to proprietary typesetting systems. In its reviews of QuarkXPress, MacUser said, 'QuarkXPress is a superb product that represents a major step forward in the evolution of desktop publishing.' Priced at $695, QuarkXPress advanced what Macintosh users could do with presentation text and graphics by incorporating features such as proper kerning, using display-size typefaces, and flowing text and graphics more easily. The program made 'true, professional quality page layout easy,' according to MacUser. MacUser also noted the 'extraordinary control' users had over the look of text on the page. Competing with QuarkXPress was Aldus Corp.'s PageMaker 2.0, which was priced lower at $495. Aldus had introduced PageMaker in 1986; it was the first full-featured page make-up program to appear. While early desktop publishing (DTP) programs enabled Macintosh users to design professional looking reports, brochures, and other documents, they contained many limitations. Word processing was often clumsy, it was difficult to format text around graphics, and creating lengthy documents was troublesome. To some extent, PageMaker 2.0 and QuarkXPress addressed these limitations. In 1988 Quark went international, establishing customer service and technical support offices across Europe and the Far East. In mid-1998 Quark introduced version 2.0 of QuarkXPress. It