Acer Loses 3 Executives as New CEO Takes Over

Acer, the slumping PC maker that saw its CEO and president both resign less than two months ago and a new CEO named in late December, reportedly will now have to deal with the loss of several other executives.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that three executives—CTO Arif Maskatia; Walter Deppeler, head of commercial-business global operations; and Dave Chen, general manager of China’s smartphone operations—had resigned, and that Maskatia’s and Chen’s positions won’t be filled in an effort to save money. Deppeler was replaced by Evis Lin, associate vice president of Acer’s commercial-business global operations.

The reports of the resignations came just after the embattled company named Jason Chen, formerly senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), as Acer’s new corporate president and CEO. Chen took over the duties Jan. 1. Co-founder Stan Shih, who temporarily took over the top posts after T.J. Wang and Jim Wong resigned in November, will remain as board chairman, according to the company.

The executive moves came after another disappointing financial quarter by Acer, which is getting hammered by the slowdown in global PC sales and the rise in popularity of tablets and smartphones. Several years ago, Acer officials believed the success of their netbook sales would propel the company to the top of the competitive PC market. However, mobile devices from the likes of Apple and Samsung have slowed PC sales worldwide, and Acer has felt the impact.

In the third quarter, Acer’s revenue fell 11.8 percent from the same period in 2012, and the company’s losses grew to $86.61 million. That followed similar trends in previous quarters. Acer in November introduced a restructuring plan that includes cutting 7 percent of the company’s jobs in hopes of saving $100 million in expenses. Acer also announced the creation of a Transformation Advisory Committee that will propose changes in company operations to the board of directors for approval and will work with Acer’s management to carry out the changes.