Stan Shih the man who founded Acer has come out of retirement to take charge of the struggling PC company.
His move to take the top job comes after the long-time CEO and Chairman JT Wang was sacked from the top job due to falling sales and an unclear future development strategy .The changeover to Shih takes effect immediately.
Originally Jim Wong was set to take over the CEO position, but a press release issued last night states that both Wang and Wong have stepped down to make room for Shih as chairman and interim corporate president. The company will apparently hand the presidency to an “appropriate candidate as soon as possible.”
Wang and Wong will be retained to advise the management team during the management transfer, as well as to help the company towards stability in the future. The duties performed by the now-removed CEO position will now be passed on to the chairman or president, with the expectation that it will “boost the company’s decision making efficiency.”
“Due to the situation that now faces Acer and my personal social responsibilities, I must stand up and take the reign with salary,” said Shih, who also revealed that George Huang, a co-founding partner of Acer, will be joining the management team.
Acer’s most recent results saw a $446 million net loss in the third quarter, and revealed plans to cut seven percent of its staff to save $100 million in annual operating expenses. Shipments were down 22.6 percent year-on-year, with the state of the netbook market largely to blame, while its tablet shipments also had a similar tumble.
