Ray Kassar
Encyclopedia
Raymond E. Kassar was president
, and later CEO, of Atari Inc.
from 1978 to 1983. He had previously been vice-president of Burlington Industries
, a textile
company.
Ray Kassar was hired in February 1978 as president of Atari Inc.'s consumer division by Warner Communications
, who at the time owned Atari. By this time, rifts had begun to develop between the original Atari Inc. staff (most of whom had engineering
backgrounds) and the new hires brought in by Warner (who, like Kassar, mostly had business
backgrounds).
In November 1978, when Atari Inc. co-founder Nolan Bushnell
left the company after a dispute with Warner over the future of Atari Inc., Kassar became CEO. Under his leadership, sweeping changes were made at Atari and the laid-back atmosphere that had existed under Bushnell's leadership all but disappeared. Kassar's twenty-five years at Burlington Industries had given him a taste for order, organization, and efficiency and his efforts to revamp Atari along similar lines provoked substantial animosity. Kassar shifted the focus away from game development and more toward marketing
and sales
. Atari Inc. began to promote games all year around instead of just at the Christmas
season. R&D also suffered deep cuts and the discipline and security at Atari Inc. became strict. Kassar became unaffectionately known to many at Atari Inc. as the "sock king" and the "towel czar" (due to his previous years in the textile industry) after he once referred to Atari programmers as "high-strung prima donna
s" in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News
in 1979.
During the Kassar years, Atari Inc.'s sales grew from $75 million in 1977 to over $2.2 billion just three years later. Though Atari enjoyed some of its greatest success during this period, the stifling atmosphere and lack of royalties
or recognition to the individual game designers angered employees, many of whom quit. During this period, nearly all members of the original Atari Inc. staff, including Al Alcorn
, quit or were fired. Atari Inc.'s upper management
also suffered severe turnover
rates. Many blamed Ray Kassar's autocratic management style, but Kassar was not held accountable.
One of the most notable turnovers was when four programmers were unsatisfied with their paychecks. They were making a very paltry salary, for someone who actually designed the games that made the company millions of dollars. They wanted a small commission, but, when they asked Kassar about that, David Crane
recalls that Kassar responded "You are no more important to that game than the guy on the assembly line
who puts it together." Crane, and three others, resigned from Atari and formed their own company: Activision
, which became the first ever third party developer.
In 1981, the highly popular and successful game Yars' Revenge
was released for the Atari 2600
. Howard Scott Warshaw
, the game's designer, got the names "Yar" and "Razak" by jokingly spelling "Ray Kassar" backwards. Warshaw claimed that the game was "Ray's revenge on Activision
"
In 1982, Kassar donated a sum of money to Brown University
, his alma mater
. In recognition, the university named a university building the "Edward W. Kassar House". The Kassar House is currently home to the university's mathematics
department.
Contrary to popular belief, Kassar was not responsible for the deal to make the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
game from the blockbuster movie. Steve Ross, CEO of Atari's parent company Warner Communications
, was the one who was in talks with Steven Spielberg
and Universal Pictures. Kassar's response to Ross' query of how he liked the idea of making an E.T. based video game was, "I think it's a dumb idea. We've never really made an action game out of a movie." Ultimately though, the decision was not Kassar's to make and it went through, and it was reported that Atari Inc. had paid US$20–25 million for the rights—an abnormally high figure for video game licencing at the time. The game was not only poorly received and sold poorly, but demand had been widely overestimated.
In July 1983, Kassar was forced to resign from Atari Inc. over mounting allegations of illegal insider trading
activity. In December 1982, Kassar had sold 5,000 shares of stock
in Warner Communications
only 23 minutes before a much lower than expected fourth quarter earnings report would cause Warner stock to drop nearly 40% in value in the following days. The Securities and Exchange Commission
accused Kassar and then Atari Inc. vice-president Dennis Groth of trading stock with illegal insider knowledge. Kassar settled, returning his profits without acknowledging guilt or innocence. The shares that Kassar sold actually constituted only a small amount of his total holdings in the company, and the SEC later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Upon Ray Kassar's resignation, James J. Morgan
, formerly of Philip Morris
, replaced him as CEO of Atari Inc. in September 1983.
He is now a collector and private investor.
From December 2, 2000 until February 11, 2001 a series of photographs culled from Kassar's personal collection were on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
. The exhibition, entitled "Painterly Photographs: The Raymond E. Kassar Collection", presented 33 works made for exhibition from 1900 to 1910, featuring some of the most important camera
artists of the time, including Alfred Stieglitz
, Edward Steichen
, Heinrich Kuehn, George Seeley and Clarence H. White.
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
, and later CEO, of Atari Inc.
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
from 1978 to 1983. He had previously been vice-president of Burlington Industries
Burlington Industries
Burlington Industries is a diversified U. S. fabric maker based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Founded in 1923, the company has operations in the United States, Mexico, and India and a global manufacturing and product development network based in Hong Kong. The company entered Chapter 11...
, a textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
company.
Ray Kassar was hired in February 1978 as president of Atari Inc.'s consumer division by Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
, who at the time owned Atari. By this time, rifts had begun to develop between the original Atari Inc. staff (most of whom had engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
backgrounds) and the new hires brought in by Warner (who, like Kassar, mostly had business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
backgrounds).
In November 1978, when Atari Inc. co-founder Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell
Nolan K. Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain...
left the company after a dispute with Warner over the future of Atari Inc., Kassar became CEO. Under his leadership, sweeping changes were made at Atari and the laid-back atmosphere that had existed under Bushnell's leadership all but disappeared. Kassar's twenty-five years at Burlington Industries had given him a taste for order, organization, and efficiency and his efforts to revamp Atari along similar lines provoked substantial animosity. Kassar shifted the focus away from game development and more toward marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
and sales
Sales
A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....
. Atari Inc. began to promote games all year around instead of just at the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season. R&D also suffered deep cuts and the discipline and security at Atari Inc. became strict. Kassar became unaffectionately known to many at Atari Inc. as the "sock king" and the "towel czar" (due to his previous years in the textile industry) after he once referred to Atari programmers as "high-strung prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
s" in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
in 1979.
During the Kassar years, Atari Inc.'s sales grew from $75 million in 1977 to over $2.2 billion just three years later. Though Atari enjoyed some of its greatest success during this period, the stifling atmosphere and lack of royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
or recognition to the individual game designers angered employees, many of whom quit. During this period, nearly all members of the original Atari Inc. staff, including Al Alcorn
Al Alcorn
Allan Alcorn is an American pioneering engineer and computer scientist. He grew up in San Francisco, California, and attended the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in 1971.- Atari and Pong :He worked for...
, quit or were fired. Atari Inc.'s upper management
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
also suffered severe turnover
Turnover (employment)
In a human resources context, turnover or staff turnover or labour turnover is the rate at which an employer gains and loses employees. Simple ways to describe it are "how long employees tend to stay" or "the rate of traffic through the revolving door." Turnover is measured for individual companies...
rates. Many blamed Ray Kassar's autocratic management style, but Kassar was not held accountable.
One of the most notable turnovers was when four programmers were unsatisfied with their paychecks. They were making a very paltry salary, for someone who actually designed the games that made the company millions of dollars. They wanted a small commission, but, when they asked Kassar about that, David Crane
David Crane
David Crane may refer to:* David Crane , former Chief Prosecutor for the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal for Sierra Leone* David Crane , video game designer, programmer and co-founder of Activision...
recalls that Kassar responded "You are no more important to that game than the guy on the assembly line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
who puts it together." Crane, and three others, resigned from Atari and formed their own company: Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
, which became the first ever third party developer.
In 1981, the highly popular and successful game Yars' Revenge
Yars' Revenge
Yars' Revenge is a video game developed for the Atari 2600 in 1981. It was created by Howard Scott Warshaw, who also wrote the 2600 titles Raiders of the Lost Ark and the much-derided E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial...
was released for the Atari 2600
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
. Howard Scott Warshaw
Howard Scott Warshaw
Howard Scott Warshaw is an American former game designer who worked for Atari in the early 1980s, where he designed and programmed the games Yars' Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and infamously, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial...
, the game's designer, got the names "Yar" and "Razak" by jokingly spelling "Ray Kassar" backwards. Warshaw claimed that the game was "Ray's revenge on Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
"
In 1982, Kassar donated a sum of money to Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. In recognition, the university named a university building the "Edward W. Kassar House". The Kassar House is currently home to the university's mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
department.
Contrary to popular belief, Kassar was not responsible for the deal to make the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Atari 2600)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 video game console. It is based on the film of the same name, and was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw...
game from the blockbuster movie. Steve Ross, CEO of Atari's parent company Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
, was the one who was in talks with Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
and Universal Pictures. Kassar's response to Ross' query of how he liked the idea of making an E.T. based video game was, "I think it's a dumb idea. We've never really made an action game out of a movie." Ultimately though, the decision was not Kassar's to make and it went through, and it was reported that Atari Inc. had paid US$20–25 million for the rights—an abnormally high figure for video game licencing at the time. The game was not only poorly received and sold poorly, but demand had been widely overestimated.
In July 1983, Kassar was forced to resign from Atari Inc. over mounting allegations of illegal insider trading
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
activity. In December 1982, Kassar had sold 5,000 shares of stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
in Warner Communications
Warner Communications
Warner Communications or Warner Communications, Inc. was established in 1971 when Kinney National Company spun off its non-entertainment assets, due to a financial scandal over its parking operations and changed its name....
only 23 minutes before a much lower than expected fourth quarter earnings report would cause Warner stock to drop nearly 40% in value in the following days. The Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
accused Kassar and then Atari Inc. vice-president Dennis Groth of trading stock with illegal insider knowledge. Kassar settled, returning his profits without acknowledging guilt or innocence. The shares that Kassar sold actually constituted only a small amount of his total holdings in the company, and the SEC later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Upon Ray Kassar's resignation, James J. Morgan
James J. Morgan
James J. Morgan is a former American executive who served as CEO of Atari from 1983 to 1984 and CEO of Philip Morris USA from 1994 to 1997.James Morgan first joined Philip Morris in 1963...
, formerly of Philip Morris
Altria Group
Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...
, replaced him as CEO of Atari Inc. in September 1983.
He is now a collector and private investor.
From December 2, 2000 until February 11, 2001 a series of photographs culled from Kassar's personal collection were on display at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is an art museum located at 1130 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara, California.It was founded in 1941 and currently ranks amongst the top 10 regional art museums in the United States . It is home to both permanent and special collections, the former of which...
. The exhibition, entitled "Painterly Photographs: The Raymond E. Kassar Collection", presented 33 works made for exhibition from 1900 to 1910, featuring some of the most important camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
artists of the time, including Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz
Alfred Stieglitz was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form...
, Edward Steichen
Edward Steichen
Edward J. Steichen was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator. He was the most frequently featured photographer in Alfred Stieglitz' groundbreaking magazine Camera Work during its run from 1903 to 1917. Steichen also contributed the logo design and a custom typeface...
, Heinrich Kuehn, George Seeley and Clarence H. White.