Acer makes cutbacks to UK team
CRN understands commercial head Nathan Knight is moving on as number of staff put on risk of redundancy
Embattled PC vendor Acer has confirmed it is making cutbacks at its UK business as part of a global restructuring drive.
According to channel sources, a number of UK staff – including some that are reseller-facing – have been put on 30-day consultation.
CRN understands Acer's head of commercial business, Nathan Knight, is parting ways with the vendor and that his responsibilities will be assumed by current consumer boss Gavin Parrish.
The move comes on the heels of a global announcement from Acer declaring it will undertake a "structural overhaul" of the company, resulting in a reduction in staff numbers of about seven per cent.
Acer would not comment on specifics but confirmed the UK team is "undergoing some changes" that are "in line with the recent changes announced at a corporate level".
"However, those changes are not yet finalised and will be communicated in due course," a representative said. As previously reported, a new UK country manager, Marco Andresen, is starting in January as current head honcho Neil Marshall moves up to a European role.
Acer announced its global restructuring drive following its Q3 results, which showed an 11.8 per cent drop in revenue to $3.1bn (£1.9bn) and operating losses of $86.6m.
As a result of the Taiwanese vendor's performance, new CEO Jim Wong resigned last month before he had even started the job, following previous CEO JT Wang out the door.
Acer will now, in effect, be helmed by Stan Shih, who is coming out of retirement to oversee the reshaping of the firm, which led the EMEA PC market in 2010 before its fortunes took a dramatic downturn in 2011.
"Due to the situation that now faces Acer and my personal social responsibilities, I must stand up and take the reign (sic) without salary," Shih said at the time.
"I will honour and complete all the public affairs and event engagements that I have committed to, but I will also fully support Acer's ICT device business and carry out the company transformation."