Esko (company)

Esko, formerly called EskoArtwork, is a graphic arts company producing prepress software and hardware for the packaging and labels, sign and display and publishing industries.[2]

Esko
TypeSubsidiary of Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR)
IndustryGraphic arts
FoundedGhent, Belgium (2002)
Headquarters
Ghent
,
Belgium
Key people
Mattias Byström, President[1]
Number of employees
1800 (2018)
Websitewww.esko.com

History

Esko was the result of a merger between Barco Graphics and Purup-Eskofot A/S in 2001.[3] The merged company was called Esko-Graphics but was renamed Esko in 2006. In the fall of 2005, Esko became fully owned by Axcel, a Danish private equity investment company.[4]

In August 2007 Esko announced that it was 'joining forces' [5] with Artwork Systems Group NV (AWS), its chief competitor in the packaging prepress market.[6] Esko initially bought 76.69% of AWS shares for €196 million.[7] Enfocus, a brand of PDF pre-flighting and workflow software originally acquired by Artwork Systems in 2000, became a subsidiary of the combined EskoArtwork company.[8]

Reflecting the merger, Esko changed its name to EskoArtwork. It also introduced a new logo, though it is visually very close to the Esko original.

In January 2011, 100% of EskoArtwork shares have been transferred to Danaher.[9] In January 2012, the name changed back to Esko, the logo was also updated. Esko acquired CAPE Systems[10] (a palletization software vendor) in 2013, MediaBeacon[11] (a Digital Asset Management vendor) in 2015 and Blue Software, LLC[12] (a label and artwork management software vendor) in 2018.

Esko is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium.

References
  1. "Udo Panenka named new president of Esko | Labels & Labeling x". Labelsandlabeling.com. 2014-11-19. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  2. "A business model for the future - Print News | Packaging News | Wide Format news | Print | i-grafix | Australia, New Zealand and Asia". I-grafix.com. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  3. "Graphics and Purup-Eskofot to merge". Barco.com. 2001-09-07. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2012-01-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Esko and Artwork Systems to Join Forces to Consolidate Packaging Strengths | Package Design". Packagedesignmag.com. 2009-10-19. Archived from the original on 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  6. "Package deal - Print News | Packaging News | Wide Format news | Print | i-grafix | Australia, New Zealand and Asia". I-grafix.com. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  7. "Esko Acquires Artwork Systems". Label and Narrow Web. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  8. "Classic PitStop developer Enfocus Software acquired by Artwork Systems". Planetpdf.com. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  9. Will Daley (2011-01-20). "Danaher to Acquire EskoArtwork for 350 Million Euros". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  10. https://www.flexography.org/industry-news/esko-buys-cape-systems/
  11. http://whattheythink.com/news/72839-esko-acquire-mediabeacon/
  12. https://graphicartsmag.com/news/2018/07/esko-acquires-blue-software/
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