Acer takes $150m hit for mismanaging EMEA inventory

Contrite chief executive relinquishes salary, and 300 employees depart as vendor works with channel to clear excess stock

Acer is to take a $150m hit to its bottom line to clear out a glut of excess inventory from the EMEA channel.

As a result, chief executive of the hardware vendor JT Wang is to voluntarily forego his entire salary and bonus. The rest of the board has also agreed to a 50 per cent pay cut.

Channel onlookers have suggested in recent months that the channel has been "stuffed" with a surfeit of Acer product. But the vendor told ChannelWeb earlier this year that its UK stock levels were down 50 per cent on 2010, adding that they were "in line with sell-out" figures.

Following Wang's recent appointment as top dog, working alongside new corporate president Jim Wong, Acer commenced an investigation into its EMEA operations.

"[We] discovered abnormalities in terms of channel inventory stored in freight forwarders' warehouses, and in the accounts receivable from channels in Spain," said a company statement, issued today. "The investigation also found areas for vast improvement on managing channel inventory and accounts receivables."

The vendor is to "provide channels with $150m (£91.5m) in sales allowance to clear inventory". Acer will swallow the allowance as an operational write-off.

"Acer does expect, however, to put business back on the right track soon," added the statement.

The PC maker is also planning to reduce EMEA employee numbers by about 300, at a cost of $30m. But the same amount will be saved each year in operating expenses, said Acer.