Acer chief executive J.T. Wang resigns on Q3 record loss
Acer's chief executive and chairman J.T. Wang has resigned from the computer maker, following abysmal sales and a massive operating loss in its fiscal third quarter earnings.
The Taipei, Taiwan-based computer giant, whose position currently stands at number four in the global PC market, reported an operating loss of $43 million, on revenue of $3.13 billion, up 3.1 percent on the previous quarter but close to 12 percent down year-over-year.
Wang said in prepared comments, following the poor quarterly results, 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 will take up the chief executive's position beginning January 1, 2014.
The company will undergo "drastic" restructuring in order to stave off further financial downturn, including laying off 7 percent of its workforce, and scrapping a number of products currently in development. In total, this will cost about $150 million, which the company will swallow in its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. The hope is to save $100 million annually in operating expenses from 2014.
In a statement to Reuters, Acer pinned the fiscal third quarter operating loss as being "mainly due to the gross margin impact of gearing up for the Windows 8.1 sell-in and the related management of inventory."
Wang in August 2012 stirred controversy in an interview with London's Financial Times, calling on Microsoft to "think twice" about launching its own Windows-powered Surface tablet, amid ongoing rivalry in the tablet space.
We've put in questions to Acer, and will update this post once we have more.