Acer to cut 560 jobs, CEO JT Wang steps down

Acer CEO JT Wang has stepped down after the number 4 PC maker posted third quarter net loss of $442.19 million. The Taiwanese company will eliminate 560 (7 percent of global resources) jobs to save $100 million annually.

Corporate president Jim Wong will be the new CEO from January 1, 2014.

However, JT Wang will complete his tenure as chairman which ends in June 2014.

The PC maker is also undertaking a new corporate transformation, Acer said on Tuesday.

As part of corporate transformation, the company will have new vision, strategy, and execution plans.

Acer to cut jobs

Acer job cut

Acer’s personnel and business restructuring plans include reducing manpower, product plan termination with related product tooling and legal fees.

The company will save $150 million which is expected to be reported in the Q4’13 financial results.

Acer will cut its worldwide employees by 7 percent resulting in Opex savings of $100 million annually from 2014. As per latest data available on its official website, Acer has 8,000 employees.

Meanwhile, Acer Q3 revenue decreased 11.8 percent to $3.11 billion.

The company posted net loss of $442.19 million.

Acer says Q3’s operating loss was mainly due to the gross margin impact of gearing up for the Windows 8.1 sell in and the related management of inventory.

Acer’s revenue for the first three quarters dipped 16.6 percent to $9.22 billion.

Net loss of Acer during the period was $436.42 million.

Acer says due to the adjustment on brand strategy, shipments for Acer’s notebooks, tablet PCs and Chromebooks are expected to decrease by 10 percent compared to Q3, however, the gross margin is expected to improve.

The company indicates that there will be a new brand focus. At present, Acer Group has three brands — Acer, Gateway, and Packard Bell.

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