Rumor: Acer eyeing Gateway?
Fresh off an interview earlier this week in which Acer's chairman expressed interest in acquiring another company, familiar takeover rumors involving Gateway are being floated.
Acer is not as familiar a player in the U.S. PC market as Gateway, with its iconic cow boxes and ill-fated strip mall stores. But the Taiwanese company is growing faster than most of its rivals, and is looking for ways to keep that streak going, Chairman J.T. Wang told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week. Now DigiTimes is suggesting that Gateway could be one of those targets.
Gateway has been floundering for years trying to formulate a post dot-com boom strategy. It has tried consumer electronics, branded stores, direct sales, and retail shelves. Of those segments, only the retail part has worked out, since Gateway still has some brand awareness among retail PC shoppers.
Acer might be interested in acquiring that brand and that retail shelf space to bolster its presence in the U.S., DigiTimes suggested. But Gateway has been the subject of many acquisition rumors since CEO Wayne Inouye stepped down, and none have come to pass. Last year the company turned down a $450 million offer for its retail PC business from a group of investors including the former owner of eMachines, which was acquired by Gateway in 2004.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
