Acer takes a loss in Q4 as execs accept slash in pay

By Konrad Krawczyk January 17, 2014

Acer Aspire R7 tablet 1 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

These days, times are tough for Acer, the manufacturer of typically budget-friendly PCs and tablets. It turns out that the firm has reported a $251 million loss for the fourth quarter of 2013. As a result of the big dip, multiple Acer executives agreed to a big slash in their paychecks as well — 30 percent to be exact. Part of this downturn in Q4 resulted due to a $43 million write off for raw materials and assorted business costs.

This comes as no surprise to us. While Lenovo and Dell upped their shipment levels in Q4 2013 when compared to Q4 2012, Acer’s shipments fell significantly. In Q4 2012, Acer shipped 7,703,752 units, while shipping only 6,474,738 systems during the fourth quarter of 2013. As a result, growth between the two quarters dipped to -16 percent.

When speaking recently at a press conference in Taiwan, newly-appointed Acer CEO Jason Chen commented on what he thought the company’s biggest mistakes have been as of late with respect to the PC business. Here’s what he had to say.

“We wanted to stimulate demand using new technology and we took the initiative more aggressively than anybody else, to the point where we got hurt,” Chen said. “Hopefully we won’t repeat the same mistake we made before.” Chen also stated that “We need to dig ourselves out of a hole,” according to Bloomberg.

It’ll be interesting to see what moves Chen will make as Acer’s new head cheese to help boost the company’s fortunes as we march deeper into 2014.

What do you think? Do you think Acer can rebound? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below.

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Konrad Krawczyk

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Konrad covers desktops, laptops, tablets, sports tech and subjects in between for Digital Trends. Prior to joining DT, he…

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