Taiwan's Acer, the world's No 2 PC vendor, replaced its chief executive in a surprise move on Thursday, barely a week after it gave a downbeat outlook that wiped more than $1 billion off its market value in four days. Its Italian chief executive, Gianfranco Lanci, will leave the company immediately due to differences over the strategy needed to counter the runaway success of the tablet market, which has cannibalised Acer's profits.
Chairman J.T. Wang taking over in an acting capacity, Acer said in a statement. Acer, one of Taiwan's best-known brands, has been a dominant force in the PC business, particularly in the low-cost notebook segment. It said it will now focus on the tablet sector as well, an area where it has been slow in gaining traction against rival products such as Apple's hot-selling iPad.