Quark, developer of the desktop publishing software QuarkXPress, has been acquired by Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles merger and acquisition company, for an undisclosed sum.
Quark, which is privately held, was previously owned by the Ebrahimi family, which bought it from founder Tim Gill in 2000. On August 1, the children of Farhad (Fred) Ebrahimi, who retired in 2005, completed a transaction in which they sold all of their Quark shares for cash, and handed over control of the company to Platinum Equity.
Quark said the purpose of this transaction is to strengthen the company and give it the flexibility and financial facility to fulfill its goal of becoming a category leader in the realm of dynamic and digital publishing.
I first learned Quark back in high school at the student newspaper, and still use it for some projects today.
If you’re a page designer, I would say you should pour one out for our old friend today, but the reality is, Quark isn’t any more dead today than it was two years ago.[1. Despite my dislike for InDesign.]