The story
Saitek (originally called SciSys until 1987) was founded in 1979 by Swiss technologist Eric Winkler as a manufacturer of electronic chess games. By the 1990s the company had distribution and design offices in the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. It had also built a factory in China and had started to provide outsourced manufacturing services to Western brands. In 1994, Saitek acquired Hegner & Glaser's successful Mephisto line of chess computers. Saitek diversified into PC peripherals, focusing on game controllers for flight simulation, driving and first-person gaming. Saitek has also expanded into PC peripherals, with an emphasis on input, connectivity and multimedia. In 2005, Saitek launched a high fidelity audio product line for PC & iPod.
On November 14, 2007, Mad Catz announced that they had purchased Saitek for $30 million. However, the company’s manufacturing operations remained independent and were renamed Ryder Industries. Ryder Industries continued as an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider focused on high-mix, low-volume manufacturing for original equipment manufacturers.
On September 15, 2016, Logitech announced that they had purchased the Saitek brand and assets from Mad Catz for $13 million in cash.
From Wikipedia’s article on Saitek, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4