Gateway brand to expand after Acer purchase
615142
(InfoWorld) - People fearing they might miss Gateway's signature black-and-white dairy cow PC boxes after the company is acquired by Acer Inc. have little reason to worry: Acer not only plans to keep the Gateway Inc. brand just the way it is, the Taiwanese company hopes to expand it. "A strong U.S. brand such as Gateway's can be expanded overseas into other markets," said Gianfranco Lanci, president of Acer, in a video feed at the Taipei news conference to announce the deal. Acer's determination to grow the brand should be some relief to American users. Gateway is the fourth biggest PC brand in the U.S., and popular among consumers. But until now, Acer has sold all of its products under its own name. Its strategy going forward is to start using multiple brands in all areas of the world, including the Gateway brand, as well as eMachines and possibly Packard Bell.Â Gateway plans to buy Packard Bell BV, which would ultimately end up as another Acer brand once the Acer-Gateway deal is finalized. Going forward, Acer plans to combine the talents of each company in order to expand product offerings for users. For example, Gateway is strong in desktop monitors, where Acer is weak, so Acer will use some Gateway technology to improve its offerings, said Lanci. The two companies will see where they can share designs and technology to improve their entire desktop and laptop PC line-ups, and expand this product cooperation to Packard Bell if a deal for the company is made. The deal could also mean more PC bargains for users. Becoming larger means Acer can gain better volume discounts when negotiating with parts suppliers. In addition, competition with Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. should remain fierce, and the companies all work hard to keep prices low. Acer agreed to buy Gateway in an all-cash deal valued at US$710 million. The two companies combined will become the world's third largest PC vendor by shipments, at around 20 million desktops and laptops a year, and will transform Acer into a multibrand company. The Acer-Gateway deal still faces regulatory and shareholder scrutiny before being finalized. The boards of directors of both companies have already signed off on the agreement. Acer expects to gain $150 million worth of efficiencies via the Gateway deal, in expanding product lines, cross-selling products, cost cutting and in other ways. The Taiwanese company said Gateway employees would be critical to its success in expanding the brand, but did not say whether it would cut staff. Â
436061
The $710 million deal gives Acer a leg up in its battle with Lenovo, but important hurdles must be cleared before Gateway will turn around its lagging sales figures.
594107
(InfoWorld) - The chairman and CEO of Acer Inc. has vowed to step down if the company's bid to join with Gateway Inc. does not succeed. "The merger will definitely succeed. If it doesn't ... I will resign," the Chinese-language newspaper, Economic Daily News, quoted Acer Chairman and CEO J.T. Wang as saying in an interview published Wednesday. Acer spokesman Henry Wang confirmed the statement. The statement came amidÂ growing criticism of the acquisition, which the companies' boards have approved. Industry watchers and stock market analysts have called the US$710 million purchase too expensive, saying Acer should have foregone the deal and continued to grow its U.S. business from the ground up. The company's U.S. sales have grown at over 100 percent for the past few years, according to Acer. Other analysts fear Acer may have trouble bringing Gateway into its fold because it may ultimately become a three-in-one deal, including Gateway subsidiary eMachines and Europe's Packard Bell BV. That may be too many companies to absorb in one go, analysts say. "The premium paid to Gateway may be too high, and the execution risk of multiple-brand strategy is clearly the key here," said Vincent Chen, PC industry analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Taipei. Taiwanese investors don't like the deal, either.. Acer's shares have fallen by their daily market limit, 6.9 percent, for each of the past two days to close at NT$55.1 (US$1.67) Wednesday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Acer agreed on Monday to buy Gateway in an all-cash deal for US$1.90 per share, a 57 percent premium on its closing share price of US$1.21 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Acer said the deal will transform it into a much larger company with US$15 billion per year in revenue and shipments of nearly 20 million PCs, giving it a solid base in the important U.S. market. The companyÂ plans to market multiple PC brands worldwideÂ after the transaction, thereby increasing sales. The deal will also help it cut costs. Size is vital to gaining volume discounts from parts suppliers, Acer said. The purchase still faces regulatory and shareholder approval. Â
343186
InfoWorld - The new Gateway will launch a complete line of notebook PCs as one of many steps to revitalize its business afterÂ merging with Acer, an Acer executive said Friday.
112465
Gateway Inc. GTW.N on Monday said it  would return to its roots as a personal computer company,  backing off on an aggressive strategy of expanding into TVs,  digital cameras and other gadgets in a move to return to  profitability.
449873
Gateway has released two additional Media Center PCs in the hope that consumer excitement over multimedia will boost what is forecast as a weak Christmas season for consumer PCs.
428129
InfoWorld - Gateway plans to overhaul its consumer PC lineup Thursday with new configurable models that will be sold exclusively through the company&#39;s Web site and call centers.
389974
The cow jumps over the Pacific Acer plans to buy Gateway in a deal worth $710m, which will make Taiwan's computer giant the third-largest computer supplier in the world.â¦
201162
TAIPEI/SHANGHAI  - Taiwan's Acer Inc will buy  Gateway Inc for $710 million to double its U.S. presence and  unseat China's Lenovo as the world's No. 3 PC maker, while  dealing a blow to its efforts to grow in Europe.
488564
Taiwanese PC vendor Acer predicts its PC shipments will grow as much as 35 percent this year led by a strong notebook PC market, a pace of growth that could see the company challenge U.S. rivals by the end of this year.Acer&#39;s revenue grew 25 percent last year to NT$461.7 billion (US$14.42 billion) and the company made inroads to the world&#39;s largest PC market, the U.S., by acquiring Gateway. The revenue figure is preliminary and only includes Gateway&#39;s last two and a half months of the year because the merger process took place late in the year.Acer bought Gateway&#160;for US$710 million last year.But the figures and PC shipments had a tremendous impact on Acer&#39;s global PC rankings in the final three months of 2007.The company took a solid third place in global PC shipments last year,&#160;topping Chinese rival Lenovo and gaining ground on Dell. Acer&#39;s global PC shipment market share during the fourth quarter of 2007 reached 9.6 percent in the fourth quarter, up 60 percent over the same time a year earlier, according to IDC, the industry researcher.Lenovo, which had been jockeying for third place with Acer all year, fell to fourth with a 7.5 percent share of the global market. HP retained its first place ranking with 19 percent market share, while Dell remained firmly in second place at 14.6 percent.&quot;Combined Acer/Gateway growth continued to be the fastest among the top vendors and is a very solid performance for the first quarter of merged operations,&quot; IDC said in a statement. &quot;Acer also clearly established itself as the third largest vendor, overtaking Lenovo, and seems to be handling the Gateway integration quickly,&quot; the statement says.This year, Acer forecast its PC shipments overall will rise between 30 percent and 35 percent, led by 40 percent shipment growth in notebook PCs. Such strong growth could help the company challenge Dell, which saw its PC shipments grow only 1.7 percent in 2007, according to figures from Gartner. The market researcher put Acer&#39;s shipment growth last year at 32.9 percent for the year.Acer&#39;s chairman, J.T. Wang, predicted last October that Acer could take up to a 12 percent share of the global PC market, putting it in the position to challenge Dell.Acer&#39;s net profit was NT$12.9 billion in 2007, up from NT$10.2 billion a year earlier. The company&#39;s 2007 figures are all preliminary, Acer said. Final results will be published later.&#160;
648433
Taiwanese PC vendor Acer has purchased 75 percent of the parent company of European electronics maker Packard Bell for &#8364;31 million ($45.8 million), Acer said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Thursday.The deal effectively seals&#160;Acer&#39;s bid to keep Chinese rival Lenovo from acquiring Packard Bell&#160;and gaining a foothold in Europe, where Acer enjoys strong sales.Acer made the purchase with the help of&#160;Gateway, another company it acquired recently. The U.S. company held the right to counter any offer for Packard Bell if it entered into talks with a third party, which Packard Bell did by speaking with Lenovo. In October,&#160;Gateway made a binding offer to buy shares&#160;from the largest shareholder in PB Holdings Co., Packard Bell&#39;s parent company.That deal went through Wednesday, the Acer statement said. The company purchased 500 common shares of PB Holdings, in addition to 30,000 Class B convertible preferred equity certificates (CPECs) and 7,000 class C CPECs.Stock market analysts have argued that buying Packard Bell is a waste of time for Acer because the company is already strong in Europe. But industry researchers, and Forrester in particular, argue the move staved off a Lenovo ploy that might have hurt Acer in there.Acer bought Gateway last year for $710 million.&#160;
762521
To make their merger work, Acer must rebuild Gateway's economy image and compete for U.S. consumers, analysts said.
532228
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.
183097
Digesting Gateway and Packard-Bell Acer has pulled itself off the acquisition trail for the foreseeable future and will spend the next couple of years digesting Gateway and Packard Bell.â¦
370544
A fast growth rate and recent acquisitions in the U.S. and Europe will extend Acer&#39;s lead over Lenovo Group as the world&#39;s third-largest PC vendor behind Hewlett-Packard&#160;and Dell, according to a study released by Gartner on Wednesday.Acer and Lenovo stood neck-and-neck in global PC shipments with 8.1 percent and 8 percent market shares, respectively, in the third quarter of 2007. Before acquisitions, Acer shipped 5.54 million PC units worldwide, a healthy 58 percent year-over-year increase. The growth rate overshadowed Lenovo, which shipped 5.48 million PCs, a 22.8 percent increase.Gartner&#39;s quarterly figures were compiled before&#160;Acer finished its acquisition of Gateway&#160;on Wednesday for $710 million. Acer also funded Gateway&#39;s proposed acquisition of European PC vendor Packard Bell&#160;for an undisclosed sum. That was&#160;a blow to Lenovo Group, which in early August revealed it was in discussions with Packard Bell over a possible acquisition.Packard Bell is largely a European vendor and has a small market share, similar to eMachines in the U.S before it was acquired by Gateway, said Diana Maranon, managing partner at Averil Capital Markets Groups. Maranon&#39;s company brokered Gateway&#39;s Packard Bell acquisition.An IDC report, also released Wednesday, listed Lenovo as the world&#39;s third-largest PC vendor but indicated&#160;Acer could overtake Lenovo&#160;with its growth rates in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa and Asia-Pacific markets, excluding Japan. Acer&#39;s U.S. PC shipments grew more than 100 percent during the third quarter, though it could face more pressure from competitors as it continues to expand, IDC said.In the U.S., Acer replicated the business strategy that made it highly successful in Europe: de-emphasize retail, sell through indirect channels, and offer low, competitive prices, said Roger Kay, founder and president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. Acer stands at the low end in the U.S. market, and the Gateway acquisition gives it a good position in the middle and high-end markets, Kay said.Gateway&#39;s worldwide shipments increased 8 percent in the third quarter, though U.S. shipments fell 14.4 year over year, Gartner said.Acer&#39;s global growth strategy is paying dividends and could affect Lenovo in the U.S. and Europe, Kay said.The Packard Bell acquisition was a defensive move for Acer to ensure Lenovo doesn&#39;t get a toehold in the European market, Kay said. Acer is already one of the top notebook sellers in Europe.Lenovo showed positive growth in global markets, but Acer&#39;s acquisitions block Lenovo from acquiring some valuable shelf space for product distribution, said Charles Smulders, managing vice president at Gartner, in an e-mail interview.Lenovo could not be reached for comment.Global PC shipments&#160;during the third quarter were 68.4 million, driven by high demand for laptops in the home market, Gartner said. HP was the world&#39;s top PC vendor, with 12.8 million units shipped, a 18.8 percent market share, and 33.1 percent year-over-year volume growth. Dell followed with a 14.4 percent market share, shipping 9.86 million units, a 3.5 percent increase.The survey includes desktop PCs, laptops, and x86 servers.
71957
PC maker Gateway Inc. said on Sunday its new line of notebooks, desktop personal computers and monitors aimed at retail markets will be available at Micro Center's 20 stores in the United States.
426983
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.