Acer reports first quarterly loss in company history as slump continues

Acer reported its second-quarter results on Wednesday and revealed its first ever quarterly loss. The company recorded a net loss of NT$6.79 billion, versus Wall Street estimates that the firm would report a NT$3.3 billion loss. The poor performance was blamed on Acer’s focus to clear up “excessive inventory” and on severance payments that were provided to executives who left the firm, Reuters said. In late March, Acer’s CEO Gianfranco Lanci resigned and recent rumors have suggested he will move to Samsung. Acer’s chairman J.T. Wang had originally expected to report positive revenue during the third quarter but he now says it will not be possible for the company to break out of its slump this year. “Today I have to say, trying to break even this year becomes impossible,” Wang said, noting that his company’s restructuring needs more time. Wang recently cut the company’s 2011 tablet forecast to 2.5 million units, down 50% from earlier estimates of 5-7 shipped units, and blamed weak tablet sales on competing devices. Acer founder Stan Shih recently said tablets are a passing “fad,” though we know several research firms that might disagree.

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