Acer CEO Wang to quit as iPads sweep aside netbooks

Taiwanese PC maker Acer today announced the departure of chairman JT Wang after the company posted a record loss of NT$13.1 billion ($445 million) for the third quarter.

The results were worse than expected due mostly to a NT$10 billion write down of computer hardware and PC maker Gateway and other acquisitions made during the good times.

Acer had at one time worked its way up into the top tier, thanks to it popular mini PC netbooks, pushing past Lenovo and Dell and acquiring Gateway to boost its presence in the US.

At the juncture the company was on track to push aside Hewlett Packard as it looked to emerge as the biggest company in the industry.

In 2010, around the same time Apple was introducing the iPad, chairman JT Wang insisted that it was just a question of when Acer would dethrone HP.

He had said that within two to three years, the company would be able to take the No1 position in PCs. He added whether it was 2012 or 2013, it did not make too much difference to the company.

Acer's success was driven by netbooks, which seemed briefly to have taken over the PC industry and thrown the advantage to Acer and its Taiwanese rival, Asustek.

But the emergence of iPad quickly put paid to the business leaving Acer struggling and though Wang tried to make Acer a contender in tablets and smartphones, his efforts did not yield results.

Meanwhile, Acer stocks opened the session already down 6.9 per cent, the maximum allowed fall in any one trading session, to T$16.90.

Wang yesterday said that he was quitting after "consecutive poor financial results" during the "complicated and harsh challenges" of the last few years.

The company announced it would be axing 7 per cent of its workforce of 8,000 in a bid to save $100 million and close a number of product lines.

A 'transformation advisory committee' formed would be chaired by founder and former CEO Stan Shih.

Shih said post the restructure, would Acer would offer more competitive products in the PC, tablet and smartphone sectors.

The computer giant's position currently stands at number four in the global PC market.

Wang said, after the poor quarterly results that it was time to "hand over the responsibility to a new leadership team to path the way for a new era."

Acer president Jim Wong would assume the chief executive's position beginning 1 January, 2014.