Irish-based personal computer-maker Gateway said today company founder and chairman Mr Ted Waitt will take over as chief executive in a move analysts said appeared to be a shift toward a more aggressive bid to protect falling market share.
Earlier this month the company said it planned to cut its work-force by 10 per cent worldwide. Mr Jeff Weitzen (44) who had been CEO for only a little over a year and was the architect of Gateway's strategy of selling services "beyond the box", retired effective immediately, the company said.
Gateway, which has struggled during the recent downturn in US retail computer sales, is trying to focus itself by returning to its historic strength, said Mr Martin Reynolds, an industry analyst at Gartner Dataquest research firm.
"We will see a more aggressive Gateway out of this," he predicted, noting that founder Mr Waitt had pushed for market share in the company's early days while Gateway more recently had tried to fatten profit margins.
Gateway's share of US PC sales slid to 8.1 per cent or 1.07 million units in the fourth quarter of 2000 from 9.3 per cent and 1.15 million units a year earlier, Mr Reynolds said, quoting preliminary Dataquest research.
Reuters