Gateway CEO exits, Acer America president takes over

After a little more than a year on the job, J. Edward Coleman is stepping down as chief executive of Gateway, the company announced Friday.

He will leave Gateway by the end of January. His position will be taken over immediately by Rudi Schmidleithner, president of the American operation for Acer, the PC maker that bought Gateway this summer. Coleman joined the company as CEO in September 2006.

"Acer would like to thank Ed Coleman for his leadership and professional contribution during this period and his continued support during the leadership transition between now and the end of Jan 2008," the company said in a statement.

Coleman was the fifth chief executive in six years to join Gateway. Like all of them, he was faced with the challenge of getting Gateway out of the low end of the PC business. In less than a year he worked out an acquisition by Acer, today's fastest-growing PC company, for $710 million--a far cry from the company's $7 billion valuation at the height of its success in the mid-'90s. Acer's Schmidleithner will be responsible for completing the integration process combining the two companies.

[Renegade Knight]

The Sole Winner

I doubt he left broke. Meanwhile every Gateway shareholder will lose on the deal since Gateway had started to make a profit and had started the turn around to be a solid PC maker.

Acer will go on to learn what HP did. 2+2=3 in mergers. You always lose something in the deal.

[Stating]

Coleman Stove: Make Him USE A Gateway

Coleman's severance agreement should require him to use a Gateway computer for the rest of his life. I read recent customer reviews of the Gateway quad workstation. It worked great -- when it worked. About 1/3 of the buyers had repeated problems with the power supply or other critical componenent. Multiple trips back to Best Buy before throwing in the towel and buying another brand.