Quark, the developer of QuarkXPress, has been bought out by a private equity firm called Platinum Equity. While the latter is known to specialize in mergers and acquisitions, few other details on the transaction have been made public. What has been disclosed is that Platinum is already working to transition Quark to new ownership.
Who might take control of Quark is unclear. The company is focused exclusively around publishing software; its chief rival is Adobe, which produces competing software such as InDesign and the rest of the Creative Suite. One possible candidate for a new owner is Apple, which could rebrand Quark, or mimic what it did with FileMaker and maintain an illusion that the brand is still separate.
