“Gateway Inc. expects to cut more than 2,000 jobs in the next few months, according to Chief Financial Officer Roderick Sherwood,” The Associated Press reports.
“Sherwood told a presentation Monday at the Morgan Stanley Semiconductor & Systems Conference that once the merger with eMachines Inc. is complete, the headcount is projected to be in the mid-5,000 range, down from the 7,400 employees Gateway had at year’s end,” AP reports. “In late January, Gateway announced plans to acquire eMachines for about $235 million in cash and stock.”
Full article here.
They’ve just gone through a merger. Every company lays off staff when this happens, if only to justify to shareholders that the Board is going to deliver on the promised cost cuts. Still, 2000 people, that’s a large headcount.
I don’t see how this could benefit MacDailyNews to have such news in here?
When Apple was down, everybody and their mother kicked them squarely in the face. Turnabout is fair play (Fairplay, get it?). Hence the use of “beleaguered” by MDN – the media past favorite adjective for Apple.
Those who read MDN daily understand why this story is here and why the headline reads as it does. Inside joke.
GW, are you listening? 2,000 more votes against you.
GW is to blame for Gateway’s mismanagement and failed products? Yeah, right – keep telling yourself that, you delusional —-.
Oh yeah, I’m so sure that John Kerry will go and get their 2,000 jobs back! haha
I’m just wondering now where all of the death knell predictions are for Gateway. God knows if Apple laid off 2,000 workers, they’d be all over the mainstream press…
Where are all those smartass secretaries so proud of their shiny new BMWs and Mercedes we saw on IPO day not so many years ago? The Unemployment Line.
The mainstream press doesn’t care about an irrelevant company like Gateway. Such news about relevant Apple, however, would affect the entire computer industry.
No offense, but y’all are a bunch of fucking assholes.
2,000 people losing their jobs isn’t funny, or a reason for gloating.
Nor is this news a surprise–Gatway has been hurting for a while, and living off the cow boxes to sell machines that weren’t made very well.
Fred! Fred! That’s ridiculous! (take from I Love Lucy). Actually, it doesn’t necessarily matter if GW is truly accountable or not. People who lose their jobs are generally unhappy with the status quo. That’s why incumbents like to have a robust economy and low unemployment around election time. Sometimes they even try to push things along with extra tax cuts and such
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Gene,
In the role of eternal optimist, one way to look at this phenomenon is that it reflects the real importance of Apple and its tecnological leadership in the industry. If Gateway goes belly up, so what? It’s just one more uninspired and uninspiring PC cloner. But if Apple truly were in trouble that would be a catastrophic loss to the industry. Who be around to do all the R & D?
face it he’s like his dad. misjudge wars and can’t run the american economy. thank his brother jeb for he’s presidency.
make a crappy product, and this is what happens. gateways suck…
Maybe the 2,000 people could get a job at Redmond, I hear they’re recruiting people to help build their new OS, codename LongWait. No experience in programming necessary, just get a shitty ‘new’ OS out ASAP!
Sorry if I offended anyone (anyone apart from Mr. Bill Gates that is, I don’t care much for your company Mr. Gates, or you for that matter), if it makes you feel better I got laid off 6 months ago but managed to get another job.
“Beleaguered?” Careful MDN, can you say schadenfreude?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> BTW, everyone be careful about bashing Curious George on MDN, you might piss off Concerned Citizen. He’s still rampaging about in that thread, the moron.
btw, my cousin is some sort of Army officer who just got back from Iraq (don’t know the rank, he got promoted a few times in the more than a year he’s been out there) who has been told to expect to be rotated back to Iraq and forth to Iraq several times because current plans are for US forces to be there for eight to ten years.
Kinda gives you a warm feeling, huh–the Pentagon already plans for your eleven year old to patrol Bagdad!
Gatewat should build up a cult with zealots then they could sell any overpriced crap like Apple.
donnie: “make a crappy product, and this is what happens. gateways suck…” ?!!?
Ever heard of Windows? Or Little Caesar’s Pizza? Or “Saved by the Bell”? It’s a wonder that Gateway isn’t on top!
KL
From stories ive read of personal encounters with Kerry, he seems to be a real assh***, very inconsiderate of people outside his inner circle. If people he served with in Nam will protest against him, I think that says something about his character. This whole anyone but Bush mindset seems very dangerous as well, people voting almost blindly, what are the other candidates at least from the Democratic side really promising us? Just something different from what Bush has given us? Thats not saying much? This country is supposed to be government by the people isnt it? It shouldnt matter whos in office, its up to the citizens to tell our representatives what we want, instead of just flocking to whoever is new and trying to seduce us with their wares we should be making our voices heard. This is the age of email and fax, what better way to send a message to our representatives than to flood them with organized email and fax instead of letting the PACs (political action committees) do it.
Jobzzz…., Gatewat is just about right. Sometimes typos are rather more honest that you intend, however dirty…..
Like Karl Rove said, “if we could make Al Gore look like a Massachusetts liberal, imagine what we can do with a real one”.
Well the cut makes sense, it will save them over 100 million a year, but then again, they are adding on more staff from eMachines, though more efficiently. It’s a tough time for Gateway and spending 235 Million of their cash is quite a risk, but I don’t think they have a choice. Unfortunately, they will also have to close down almost all their retail stores and their advantage in the home TV market is slipping as they face commodity pricing there as well. What Gateway really needs is to have Dell raise Dell’s prices and margins. But that is unlikely, and Dell will probably go in for the kill.
Sad to see 2,000 people lose their jobs.
Politics is off-topic, but I can’t resist. I spend time at Project Vote-Smart, and I just don’t trust any politician who won’t make an official response to issues. Neither Bush nor Kerry responded to questions.
The project has put together a profile on Bush based on his past interviews and decisions, but Kerry is still an unknown. I wish there were more information =(
KL
Have you lot not worked it out about Kerry yet? You have to give it to this “New World Order”, they know how to really fix an election, even by legal means.
you guys are delving into politics again, and we all know what happened the last time… everybody cleared out. ahahhahhahaaha
btw, kerry’s just a democratic version of bush: spoiled rich kid with a Yale degree.
donnie: “btw, kerry’s just a democratic version of bush: spoiled rich kid with a Yale degree.”
reply:
right on, `cept Kerry married the widow of a deceased Republican Senator…John Heinz, heir to the ketchup fortune….and got even richer!
PCs and Windows suck so bad I can’t get concerned about what’s happening to cheap box assemblers like Gateway and Dell. They’ve commoditized themselves into a corner, and only appeal to people who want the cheapest price, not best value.
Don’t jump to conclusions “Mr Mertz” . I am a Republican and no John Kerry supporter am I. People do vote their pocketbooks and these 2,000 souls are not going to be voting for the big spending, non-budget balancing, civil-liberty crushing, soon-to-be ex-President from Tejas. REAL conservatives do not run 1/2 Trillion dollar defecits. The WTO and NAFTA agreements have more to do with the loss of these jobs than anything else. The Prez has something to say about that now, doesn’t he? His pop negotiated both current arrangements. Clinton had some mods put in, but they are largely the work of his father’s administration.
TRUTH HERTZ MR MERTZ
Veridian- Yeah that was some thread. I think perhaps I initiated the topic that led to Concerned Citizen’s melt down, but you certainly fanned the flame. Most of the political stuff above is pretty boring, but when you get someone that crazed, it makes senile, drooling old shits like me look pretty good. I think it is too bad that 2000 gateway workers have lost their jobs- the personal loss will be devastating, and it can’t help the economy.
To just the facts,
Bush on the other hand became a B-list oil prospector and found partying and cocaine before his wife put her foot down and told him it was either her or the road.
apparently, we all know now who wears the pants in that family.
The numbers above are incorrect. The actual number is actually about 900 employees.
NoPCZone,
A kindred soul! I am also a Republican with no love for Dubya. I continue to be amazed that the man has been practically canonized for doing alarming things with the budget and our civil liberties, and there’s no one going “Whoa!” I am disgusted that people care more about the party than about our country.
Grandpa,
Yep. You sure stirred up an ocean of shit with your sarcastic remark. Jeez, I can’t believe we started off talking about iPods! As for Concerned Citizen, he’s a narrow minded ignoramus who wears his stupidity like armor. Like I said, I couldn’t help baiting the moron into flying his colors. He sure as hell imploded spectacularly though, didn’t he?
Hey viridian, thx for pointing out that thread. I can’t beleive I missed all that fun! D’ya reckon he’s still around?
I’d really love to be able to analyse someone like him. I mean, you have to admit, such an existence is fascinating.
As for beleaguered gateway, well, I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to apply that label to a shitbox maker, even if they are irrelevant. However, I don’t think it’s funny that people should lose their jobs, as I’m sure they didn’t do anything to deserve it.
What I would be worried about is the consequences of this market behaviour. If Dell were to drive everyone to just create cheapo boxes, there’ll be no-one left to innovate and drive demand. That has already become a problem for the tech sector. In the end, you’ll have a repeat of the history of the car market, where the cheapo clone makers from Japan ended up out-innovating a complacent american and european industry. This time it’ll be places like china, korea, taiwan. Of course, it’s up to companies like gateway to try and compete on there own terms, but microsoft can be a very limiting factor there.
Bo’ster’
That thread started on Thursday Feb. 26th, and Concerned Citizen was there up to yesterday with his same tired rant. Unbelievable that someone can be so one-track minded. I also fail to find humor in people losing their employment, and I wish those who do all the best. I’m also fully aware that MDN was being ironic in referring to Gateway as “beleaguered”, since this was the prefix applied to Apple for years by know-nothing journalists.
“I mean, you have to admit, such an existence is fascinating.”
Bo’ster,
I’m not sure I agree with you. It may be fascinating for observers, but when someone becomes so zealously obsessed with a cause or a personality, their huge emotional investment can be disastrous if the object of their obsession proves to be imperfect or only too human. They’re setting themselves up for a catastrophic disappointment. Witness Jimmy Swaggart’s followers weeping heartbrokenly after the revelation of his sexual peccadillos.
Viridian, yeah, I had to go and read that. amazing. That guy was the ron of politics.
Btw, the second paragraph was directed at the board in general, not you specifically. Should have made that clearer, sorry
Wow! The civility! Politics and all. Of course, unlike the other day, (or days: thanks to Viridian for pointing out that it kept going on, I just went back for a few more laughs) politics may not be off topic.
Oops. In my ignorant haste, I didn’t bother to actually READ the contents of the non-public article to which I have access.
The above numbers are correct and the article was actually geared towards correcting something else reported incorrectly by the press. A press release incorrectly linked the job cuts to the acquisition of eMachines.