Acer seizes opening with Gateway
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The Taiwanese PC maker has been growing fast. With Gateway, it gets a bigger foothold on U.S. soil.
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Computer maker Acer of Taiwan announced yesterday that it would acquire Gateway, the third-biggest U.S. personal-computer company, for about $710 million in cash.
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(InfoWorld) - Acer's planned $710 million acquisitionÂ of U.S. PC vendor GatewayÂ won antitrust approval in the U.S. as the clock struck midnight Monday, Gateway said. The time marked the end of a 30-day waiting period in which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission or the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice may intervene or request additional time to review the deal for possible antitrust violations. Not all transactions face antitrust scrutiny by the two U.S. agencies. Acer, of Hsichih, Taiwan, was forced to file with the agencies to notify them of its intention to buy Gateway and provide details of the proposed transaction due to the size of the deal. At the end of the day on Monday, the waiting period ended, Gateway said in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "The closing of the transaction remains subject to other customary conditions, including regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions which [Acer] anticipates will be satisfied over the next several weeks," Gateway said. Acer agreed to buy GatewayÂ in August. Once the acquisition closes, Acer will become the world's third largest PC vendor by shipments, at around 20 million desktops and laptops a year, and it will be transformed into a company with different PC brands. The boards of directors at both companies have already signed off on the agreement. Â
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NOVEMBER 18, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - Gateway Inc. plans to release two additional Media Center PCs Thursday, hoping that consumer excitement over multimedia will boost what is forecast as a weak holiday season for consumer PCs.
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MEXICO CITY, Dec. 7  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gateway today announced that leading department store Liverpool will now offer its customers Gateway-branded desktop and notebook computers.
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The New York tech show gets started with a number of product debuts, including Gateway's latest all-in-one PC.
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Acer Inc.'s agreement to acquire Gateway Inc. has foiled Lenovo Group Ltd.'s plans to buy PC vendor Packard Bell BV, and could leave Acer owning both Gateway and Packard Bell.
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Gateway computers will be more widely available at Office Depot, in the PC maker&#39;s latest move to broaden distribution at retail stores since acquiring rival eMachines this year.
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Acer has passed Lenovo Group as the world&#39;s third largest PC vendor with its&#160;purchase of Gateway, and now it&#39;s&#160;gunning for U.S. giant Dell.Next year, Acer could take up to a 12 percent share of the global PC market, putting it in the position to challenge Dell, said J.T. Wang, chairman of Acer, at the company&#39;s third-quarter investors&#39; conference in Taipei on Friday.Shipments by Acer have been growing fast this year due in part to a focus on laptop PCs, the hottest segment of the PC market, and the company&#39;s strategy of working closely with distributors.Acer&#39;s shipments grew 58 percent year over year in the third quarter, according to Gartner. The Taiwanese PC vendor accounted for 8.1 percent of global PC shipments during the quarter, compared to its 5.9 percent share during the same time last year. The figures do not include Gateway, which&#160;Acer bought&#160;for $710 million last week.Dell&#39;s unit shipments grew 3.5 percent during the quarter, but it still lost market share compared to last year, finishing in second place at 14.4 percent compared to 15.9 percent.Hewlett-Packard kept its title of the world&#39;s biggest PC vendor by shipments during the quarter with an 18.8 percent share, compared to a 16.1 percent share a year earlier. Lenovo, the fourth place vendor, took an 8 percent share, compared to 7.5 percent last year. Market researcher IDC puts&#160;Lenovo ahead of Acer&#160;according to its third-quarter PC shipment figures.&quot;We believe we can maintain strong growth momentum through 2008,&quot; said Wang.Acer forecasts it will still grow by a double-digit figure next year, and faster than the global PC industry. Executives also said the fourth quarter of this year looks to be a good quarter, with no indication of a decrease in demand for PCs.&quot;We have not seen any slowdown. Demand is still quite good,&quot; said Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer. He forecast unit shipments to grow 10 percent to 20 percent over the third quarter. The company did not say how many PCs it sold in the third quarter, but Gartner puts the figure at nearly 5.55 million units.In the fourth quarter, Acer will also start adding Gateway shipments to its figures, which will add to its market share.Gateway sold only 865,000 PCs in its biggest market, the U.S., during the third quarter, down from 1.01 million the same time last year, according to Gartner. Lanci believes a stronger laptop PC lineup will boost Gateway&#39;s market share figures in the U.S. going forward because the mobile PC is the hottest segment in the industry. New Gateway laptops could be out as early as the first quarter of next year.And Dell isn&#39;t sitting still. Efforts to turn around its business finally paid off this quarter when its worldwide unit shipments rose for the first time in four quarters. It&#39;s a huge company with a lot of resources and could still turn itself around. Acer&#39;s executives said size was becoming ever more important in the global battle for PC market share because bigger companies can force suppliers to cut their prices. That means Dell, as the second biggest PC maker, is still in a strong position.REFERENCES:Wall Street Beat: Acer masters the Art of War, Aug. 31, 2007Acer completes Gateway acquisition, Oct. 17, 2007Acer to acquire Gateway for $710 million, Aug. 27, 2007Gateway brand to expand after Acer purchase, Aug. 27, 2007
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Irvine-based Gateway refreshed its lineup of personal computers yesterday, introducing two new Media Center PCs. The company&#39;s 3250X Media Center PC and 7200S Media Center PC both use Microsoft&#39;s new Windows
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Acer's acquisition of Gateway has had a definite impact on its overall market share, its chairman said Friday, and forecasted the manufacturer would be able to ship 25 percent more computers in 2008.
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The biggest question: How is Acer going to handle the presentation of three PC brands to the public?
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Jumping onto the design-and-simplicity bandwagon, Gateway unveils the 'One' desktop and touts it as an affordable and practical alternative for consumers who might not want to shell out the bucks for, well, Apple.
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Gateway has introduced the first products in a new line of desktop PCs for sale at major retailers throughout North America, following through on plans to broaden the company's reach beyond direct-sales channels.
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(InfoWorld) - Acer Inc.'s agreement to acquire Gateway Inc. has foiled Lenovo Group Ltd.'s plans to buy PC vendor Packard Bell BV, and could leave Acer owning both Gateway and Packard Bell. On August 7, Lenovo revealed it was in discussions with Packard Bell over a possible acquisition. At the time,Â it looked like Lenovo had beaten Acer, which was also interested in acquiring the company. However,Â Acer's plan to buy Gateway for $710 million, announced Monday, trumps anything Lenovo brings to the table in its negotiations with Packard Bell. In 2006, Gateway signed an agreement with John Hui, Packard Bell's largest shareholder, that gives Gateway the right of first refusal if he decides to sells PB Holding Co. SARL, the parent company of Packard Bell. What that means is that if Packard Bell wants to enter into a final agreement to be purchased, the company has to ask Gateway first, said Y.T. Du, of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., which represented Acer in the negotiations. Gateway can refuse the deal if it wants and enter into purchase talks with Packard Bell, he said. That is exactly what Gateway has done, announcing plans to exercise its right of first refusal at the same time the Acer deal was unveiled. The agreement between Hui and Gateway is rooted inÂ Gateway's 2004 acquisition of eMachines, a PC vendor that Hui founded. When Hui acquired his stake in PB Holding Co., he granted the right of first refusal to Gateway in exchange for the company waving parts of the noncompete agreement that Hui signed when eMachines was sold. Now that Gateway has entered into talks to acquire PB Holding from Hui, Acer could end up owning both Gateway and Packard Bell. While a Packard Bell acquisition would increase Acer's market share in Europe, a deal also means Acer will face having to integrate two companies with its existing operations instead of only one. "Acer is still really strong in Europe," said Bryan Ma, director of personal systems research at IDC Asia-Pacific. Ma worried that Acer's desire to acquire Packard Bell is driven more by a desire to slow Lenovo's growth in Europe, rather than a pressing need to strengthen its own position there. A Lenovo spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. Â  With additional reporting by Dan Nystedt in Taipei. Â
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Some observers are concerned that Acer is paying too much for Gateway, and some say the deal doesn't add much to Acer's arsenal except size.
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Jumping on the design-and-simplicity bandwagon, Gateway unveils a desktop it touts as an alternative for those who don't want to shell out the bucks for, well, Apple.