Packard Bell was a Dutch-based computer manufacturing subsidiary of Acer. The brand name originally belonged to an American radio manufacturer Packard Bell founded by Herbert "Herb" A. Bell and Leon S. Packard in 1933. Some websites use 1926 as the founding date when Herbert Bell was an executive with Jackson Bell Company, Los Angeles, California. In 1986, Israeli investors bought the name for a newly formed personal computer manufacturing company producing discount computers in the United States and Canada. In 2000, Packard Bell, then a subsidiary of NEC, stopped its North American operations while remaining a leading brand in the European markets. In 2008 it was acquired by the ****** consumer electronic firm Acer in the aftermath of its takeover of Gateway computers. Gateway products are now sold in the Americas and Asia, while Packard Bell products are sold in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.