Gateway to axe 100 direct sales jobs
2:58 PM
Posted: Tuesday, July 08, 2008
NORTH SIOUX CITY -- Gateway's owner plans to shut down the PC maker's direct consumer sales division in North Sioux City by early September, eliminating an estimated 100 jobs.
"It's very fair to say it will be a significant number of employees, but not a total shutdown of the North Sioux City operation,'' said Kory Menken, executive director of the city's Economic Development Corp.
In addition to direct sales, some support staff functions also would be eliminated, Menken said. Other divisions, including customer service, engineering and administrative, would remain in North Sioux, he said.
Company managers informed the direct sales force of the decision today, according to an e-mail from the spouse of one of the workers. They were told their last day would be Sept. 5, or sooner if the remaining inventory was depleted before then, according to the e-mail.
A spokeswoman for Acer Inc., the Taipei, Taiwan-based firm that acquired Gateway for $710 million last August, was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.
The decision brings to an end the once highly successful direct sales model that turned Gateway into a multibillion-dollar enterprise and one of the world's largest PC makers. Gateway, founded by Ted Waitt and Mike Hammond in a Sioux City farmhouse in 1985, developed a global reputation for made-to-order computers sold over the phone and, later, the Internet.
For a more complete story, read the Journal in print and online Wednesday.
{M3-- Dave Dreeszen
"It's very fair to say it will be a significant number of employees, but not a total shutdown of the North Sioux City operation,'' said Kory Menken, executive director of the city's Economic Development Corp.
In addition to direct sales, some support staff functions also would be eliminated, Menken said. Other divisions, including customer service, engineering and administrative, would remain in North Sioux, he said.
Company managers informed the direct sales force of the decision today, according to an e-mail from the spouse of one of the workers. They were told their last day would be Sept. 5, or sooner if the remaining inventory was depleted before then, according to the e-mail.
A spokeswoman for Acer Inc., the Taipei, Taiwan-based firm that acquired Gateway for $710 million last August, was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.
The decision brings to an end the once highly successful direct sales model that turned Gateway into a multibillion-dollar enterprise and one of the world's largest PC makers. Gateway, founded by Ted Waitt and Mike Hammond in a Sioux City farmhouse in 1985, developed a global reputation for made-to-order computers sold over the phone and, later, the Internet.
For a more complete story, read the Journal in print and online Wednesday.
{M3-- Dave Dreeszen
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cow spots wrote on Jul 9, 2008 12:50 AM:
Gateway in Heart wrote on Jul 8, 2008 11:43 PM:
Former GW sales rep wrote on Jul 8, 2008 11:39 PM:
glad we got out wrote on Jul 8, 2008 10:41 PM:
Former Gateway Employee wrote on Jul 8, 2008 9:52 PM: