The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Operational decision · 1979–2004
Comdex went from 210,000 attendees to cancelled in four years
Founded in a ballroom in 1979, Comdex peaked past 200,000 attendees; IBM, Apple and Microsoft left, and the show was cancelled on 23 June 2004.
Key3Media · Comdex · 2004-06
What happened
Comdex began in 1979 as a computer dealers' expo in a Las Vegas ballroom with 4,000 attendees, and grew into the computing industry's flagship fair — over 200,000 attendees for five consecutive years at its peak, and in 2000 more than 2,300 exhibitors generating over $250 million in non-gaming revenue for Las Vegas.
The anchors left first: IBM and Dell stopped exhibiting in 1998, and Apple and Microsoft followed in 2000, shifting budgets to CES, E3 and their own events. After the dot-com bust and 11 September, attendance fell 41 percent in 2001 to 125,000; exhibitor space shrank from 806,000 square feet to 455,000 in a year, and by 2003 just 45,200 visitors and 550 exhibitors remained.
Owner Key3Media filed for bankruptcy in 2003 with $370 million of debt; creditors took over and formed Media Live International. On 23 June 2004 the November Las Vegas show was cancelled for lack of interest, with Media Live paying an undisclosed cancellation fee — a 25-year institution ended not with a final edition but with a press release.
Why it happened
- The anchors took the buyers with them: once IBM, Apple and Microsoft left, exhibitors followed the audiences to CES and vertical shows.
- The bust hit its core customer: Comdex sold floor space to tech companies exactly when tech spending collapsed.
- Ownership churn accelerated the decline: sold twice in six years, the show carried $370M of debt into the downturn.
The lesson
Comdex peaked at 210,000 attendees and was cancelled inside four years: when anchor exhibitors leave a horizontal show, the buyers go with them, then the show.
Aftermath
A final international edition ran in Greece in 2005. Comdex's arc — from ballroom to 1.4 million square feet to cancellation — remains the classic trade-show collapse.
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, 24 June 2004 — Comdex Goes Dark for the First Time (cancelled 23 June 2004, show scheduled 14 November 2004; founded 1979 with 4,000 attendees; attendance 210,000+ peak to 45,200 in 2003; 2001 attendance fell 41% to 125,000 after Sept. 11; exhibitor space 806,000 to 455,000 sq ft in a year; IBM and Dell among defections; Key3Media filed bankruptcy 2003 with $370M debt; Media Live International took over and paid cancellation fee; 2000 show generated $250M+ for Las Vegas)
- Exhibit City News — The Collapse of COMDEX (1998 peak: 2,337 exhibitors, 1.475M net sq ft, 200,000+ attendees five straight years, exhibitors from 145 countries; IBM, Dell, Intel, AMD declined in 1998; Apple and Microsoft stopped exhibiting in 2000; attendance 211,000 in 2000 to 40,000 in 2003; sold to SoftBank for $865M in 1995, to Key3Media in 2001; NYT cancellation headline 24 June 2004; final live COMDEX in Greece 2005)
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