Gianfranco Lanci, who has been heading Acer's business in the U.S. and Europe, will take over from former president J. Wang on January 1. At the same time, Stan Shih, who founded the company in 1976 and currently serves as chairman of the board, will leave Acer. Wang will then combine the positions of CEO and chairman of the board.

The personnel changes at Acer are taking place against the backdrop of a general reform of the company. In the early 1990s, Acer became a very successful international corporation, but then excessive business diversification led to a deterioration in its position. In 2000, the management undertook a large-scale restructuring, separating all of its production facilities into independent companies and focusing exclusively on the marketing and distribution of personal computers and other equipment.

Wang, an Acer veteran, took over as president in December 2000, and the company's performance has improved markedly since then. Core business profitability has been rising since 2001, as have unit sales. Revenues in 2003 were $4.6 billion, up 70% from 2001. Despite the disappointing performance of Acer's subsidiaries, the company's core business profitability is expected to continue to rise this year, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs.

Lanci has done much to revive Acer. Until 1997, he worked at Texas Instruments (TI), and when Acer bought TI's notebook business, he moved to the Taiwanese company. In 2000, he became head of European operations. Thanks to his efforts, Acer became the leader in the Western European notebook market, pushing aside such powerful competitors as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba.

Acer's revenue from operations in Europe doubled last year, with the Taiwanese company now accounting for about half of its profits. In 1999, Acer left the U.S. retail market, but returned there in 2003, with Lanci also leading the project. Acer's sales in the U.S. remain relatively small, but they are growing quite quickly. Acer's share of the Chinese personal computer market is also increasing, with some analysts expecting it to exceed 60% this year. Acer ranks fifth in worldwide PC shipments and fourth in notebook sales. (WSJ, 2.09.2004, Alexander Silonov)

Italian becomes Acer president