BenQ says 'adieu' to its European mobile phone business
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3,000 jobs axed BenQ's mobile phone business - the former Siemens division BenQ took over less than a year ago for â¬250m - is facing imminent collapse.â¦
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First video killed the radio star. Now it looks like the video recorder's days could be numbered too, after Britain's biggest electrical retailer announced an end to sales of the household gadget.
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(InfoWorld) - BenQ Mobile is closing down a handset facility in Taiwan amid an ongoing restructuring of its operations, calling reported plans to outsource production altogether "speculation." The closure of the facility is part of aÂ massive restructuring effortÂ parent company BenQ announced last month, after it failed to make good on a promise to turn around its financial performance in the second quarter. The company's mobile phone business has struggled ever since itÂ took over Siemens' loss-making mobile phone divisionÂ in a high profile deal last year. It also highlights cutthroat competition in the mobile phone industry as leaders such as Nokia and MotorolaÂ grab market share. The handset business had proved so tough for Siemens that it agreed to pay BenQ â¬250 million ($317 million) to take the ailing division off its hands. BenQ has posted losses for the three quarters that have passed since the deal was finalized. The Taiwanese handset facility will close by the end of this year, affecting over 100 workers. Foreign workers invited to Taiwan to work the factory floor will be sent home, while some Taiwanese workers will retire and others will be relocated to other BenQ factories, said Albert Lin, a communications officer at BenQ. The operation accounts for less than 10 percent of BenQ Mobile's handset production. "This is part of BenQ Mobile's plan to cut costs and increase efficiency," he said. He also called news reports from Germany, which say BenQ Mobile plans to sell or close all of its handset factories and farm production out to a contract manufacturer, "speculation," and refused further comment. It's the second series of layoffs announced by the mobile phone maker so far this year. In July, BenQ Mobile said it planned to cut 277 jobs at its facility in Munich, Germany, in addition to releasing 250 German contract employees that work offsite. BenQ Mobile's parent company, BenQ Corp., also said it planned to restructure its operations in an effort to increase cash available to finance BenQ Mobile as it struggles toward profitability. BenQ last month said it would split its name brand division and manufacturing operations into separate companies, a change that would not affect its mobile phone factories. BenQ Mobile planned to continue producing its own handsets due to the degree of customization required by network operators, among other reasons, Clemens Joos, CEO of BenQ Mobile, said at the time. BenQ Mobile faces an uphill battle to return to profitability, mainly because larger rivals have stepped up the competition and are grabbing market share from smaller companies in the industry. BenQ's share of the handset market dropped to 3.2 percent in the second quarter, from 4.8 percent the same time last year, according to market researcher Gartner. Meanwhile, Nokia's share rose to 33.6 percent from 31.6 percent, and Motorola's increased to 21.9 percent from 17.7 percent. Â
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Plans to limit mobile phone call costs for consumers who travel abroad within Europe are attacked by the industry.
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SOME INDUSTRY OBSERVERS had predicted that BenQ had shot itself in the foot by promoting its own branded mobile handsets at the recent European footie (soccer) fest in Portugal.
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(InfoWorld) - The head of BenQ Corp. retained his chairmanship but will lose his CEO titles at some companies in the BenQ Group, amid a management reshuffle announced just weeks before his insider stock trading case begins in Taiwan. K.Y. Lee, the long-standing chairman of the company and head of the BenQ Group, lost his CEO title at LCD (liquid crystal display) panel maker AU Optronics Corp., and at BenQ Corp., an official confirmed Monday. The announcement comes less than a year after BenQ racked up over US$1 billion in losses in a high-risk attempt to build a global name in the mobile phone business. The company opened BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG in October 2005 after taking on Siemens AG's mobile phone unit. But a year later, BenQ called it quits amid stiff competition and heavy losses. Since then, its management has faced blame for betting the company on what turned out to be a losing strategy. Financially, the company posted losses in every quarter after the handset unit acquisition, and its bottom line continues to bleed. The company's dwindling financials, fears that German creditors might go after the parent after the collapse of BenQ Mobile, and the sell-off of BenQ assets to shore up its balance sheet has sent its share price down nearly 29 percent so far this year to close at NT$12.45 (US$0.38) Friday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Just when it seemed BenQ's troubles couldn't get any worse, Taiwanese prosecutors raided BenQ Corp.'s offices and hauled away three executives for questioning over alleged insider stock trading related to when it revealed losses incurred by BenQ Mobile. That was in March, and in all, five executives have been formally charged. The current management reshuffle, and the announcement of a new name for BenQ Corp., comes just weeks before court proceedings are set to begin on the insider stock trading case at the Taoyuan District Court in Taiwan. Officials said procedural meetings are slated to begin July 12. BenQ has denied any wrongdoing on the part of its executives. The company name change is part of a broader reorganization. The BenQ Corp. name and all businesses related to its brand are being spun off, while the manufacturing operations will continue to operate under a new name, Qisda Corp. It's a common strategy in Taiwan. Companies that make products on behalf of overseas customers as well as under their own name brands separate the contract manufacturing operations from the name brand business in order to avoid any conflict of interest with customers. The reorganization is expected to be final by Sep. 1, 2007. K.Y. Lee will be chairman of Qisda, BenQ, and AU Optronics once the change is finished, but he will not hold the CEO title at any of the companies. Hsiung Hui, an executive vice president at AU Optronics, will become the new president of Qisda, while Conway Lee will become the president of BenQ. The CEO title will not be used at either company, a BenQ representative said. At AU Optronics, H.B. Chen will take over the CEO title, and L.J. Chen will take on dual roles of president and COO (Chief Operating Officer).
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Mobile phone companies in Europe must start offering cheaper rates to their customers using phones abroad.
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The German mobile phone arm of Taiwanese group BenQ has filed for insolvency as unions and politicians protested at the company's treatment of 3,000 employees who are set to lose their jobs.
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Mobile phone firms lose their legal fight to reclaim tax they said they paid to acquire expensive licences in the UK.
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Company discontinues many consumer electronics lines to focus on PCs--and profitability.
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Thousands of loss-making phone boxes face the axe as mobile phone use soars in the UK, says BT.
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The company said it will close its business in Britain that issues home loans and significantly scale back its mortgage business in the United States.
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Buyers pale at huge debts German administrators have given up in their efforts to find a buyer for the cellphone maker BenQ Mobile, which went bankrupt at the tail end of last year. Almost all jobs will go at the former Siemens outfit, which Taiwanese electronics group BenQ picked up in 2005.â¦
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The death of the video recorder came a step closer today when the country&#39;s largest electrical chain said it is stopping selling them.
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French telecom equipment maker Alcatel confirmed  that its chief technical officer, Niel Ransom, is planning to step down.
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LONDON : It&#39;s crunch time for Europe&#39;s mobile telephone giants. After spending billions of euros on third-generation licences, they now hope to persuade millions of customers to make the switch to the new
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The news from BT that it plans to axe close to one-fifth of payphones in Scotland is the last phase of a rolling review that will eventually see around 10,000 payphones disappear across Britain in the coming 18 ...