Gateway CEO Ed Coleman Bows Out

Three months after orchestrating the sale of his company to Taiwanese PC maker Acer, Gateway CEO Ed Coleman announced his resignation.

Coleman, who joined Gateway in September of 2006, on Friday announced he will officially part ways with the once-formidable challenger to PC heavyweights Dell, HP and IBM at the end of January 2008.

Rudi Schmidleither, President of Acer’s Pan America operations, will assume the role of the top executive and will be responsible for completing the post-merger integration of the Gateway unit.

In a release announcing the news, Acer credited Coleman for helping the two companies make “tremendous progress” in integrating the back-end processes of the newly merged company and developing a new multi-brand strategy.

“Acer would like to thank Ed Coleman for his leadership and professional contribution during this period and his continued support during the leadership transition between now and the end of January 2008,” the company said in a release announcing Coleman’s resignation.

In late August, Acer acquired Gateway for $1.90 a share, or roughly $710 million. The deal included Packard Bell, which Gateway had acquired prior to the Acer deal.

At the time the deal was announced, Acer told analysts the union would result in “significant” revenue and cost synergies.

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