Acer Chairman J.T. Wang reportedly is on the verge of deciding whether to buy a software developer that he hopes could increase the appeal of Acer products and boost profits, which last quarter fell to their lowest in more than six years.
Wang wouldn't offer the name of the developer or share financial details about the potential deal, according to a May 11 Bloomberg report, but explained that the goal is to create a more harmonious relationship between the company's netbooks, notebooks, smartphones and tablets.
"We understand we have to make a decision soon," Wang told Bloomberg. "We need some software that can create better value."
Acer, which was largely responsible for the netbook craze, is one of the later arrivals to the tablet market—which has taken a chunk out of netbook sales. The company's slow arrival to the space was part of what led to the March 31 resignation of former Acer President and CEO Gianfranco Lanci. The interview, Bloomberg added, was Wang's first since Lanci's departure.
In reports, Lanci has accused Acer of resisting globalization, in part by not hiring engineers from outside of Taiwan. He told reporters this week that he had been on the verge of making changes that would have led to the company's "de-Taiwanization."
Wang has denied that Acer is unwilling to hire non-Taiwanese engineers, and said the company plans to hire several hundred engineers this year.
Lanci reportedly added that had Acer hired engineers from outside of Taiwan, it would have opened the company to a 50 percent boost in sales over five years, to $30 billion by 2015. Wang, in return, said Lanci's sales targets would have been "totally impossible" to achieve, according to Bloomberg.
In announcing Lanci's resignation, Acer reported that Lanci "held different" views from many board members, and that they couldn't reach a consensus. "They placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation," Acer said in its statement.
For more, read the eWEEK article: Acer Considers a Software Purchase to Create Tablet, Netbook Synergies.
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