This article is more than 1 year old

'Twas the night before Christmas, and Rossi was OUT!

Not an Acer bod stirred as pres left EMEA house

Beleaguered notebook maker Acer has split with its EMEA president after he'd spent less than six months in the role.

There’s never a better time to swap out top level execs than just before Chrimbo - or any other major holiday for that matter - and the Taiwanese firm did just this, parting company with Luca Rossi on 23 December.

The explanation for his exit was not exactly extensive or gushing with praise - the company simply confirmed in one line that Rossi, who replaced Oliver Ahrens in June, exited for “personal reasons”.

Rossi joined Acer as a regional director in 2009, was made veep of the consumer division nearly two years later before being elevated to the lofty heights in his last role at the company.

His starting date for the EMEA president’s role coincided with Acer’s return to profit in calendar Q2, with net income coming in at NT$486m (£9.6m) versus a net loss of NT$343m (£6.77m) in the prior year.

Sales slipped nine per cent year-on-year to NT$81.34bn ($1.6bn).

In calendar Q3, careful cost management - admin expenses more than halved - helped Acer to report a profit of NT$650m (£13.38m), but again revenues fell, coming in at NT$85.6bn (£1.76bn), versus NT$92.1bn (£1.89bn) a year earlier. The firm does not break out its regional performance.

To replace Rossi, Acer has pulled across Emmanuel Fromont from his role as corporate veep and president of the pan-Americas operations. He joined the firm in 2008 via the acquisition of Packard Bell.

Acer claimed the management changes came as it was experiencing continued momentum.

The EMEA market will continue to be a dusty landscape for vendors in 2015, after the XP factor breathed new life into sales last year, particularly on the B2B front.

Yesterday, Gartner forecast a decline in traditional PCs - desktops and notebooks - for 2015 but predicted the ultra mobile premium segment will see greater sales volumes as prices continue to fall. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like