Gateway to axe quarter of global workforce
Gateway has announced it is laying off about 4,700 employees - 25% of its worldwide workforce.
Gateway will immediately close all of its company-owned operations in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The company also will close customer service and sales centres in Hampton, Virginia; Vermillion, South Dakota; Salt Lake City; and Lake Forest, in the US.
The announcement comes weeks after Gateway said it would close its European headquarters in Dublin.
About 15%, or 2,200, of the company's 16,500 US workers will lose their jobs under the plan, which the company said would help save $300m (£200m) a year.
The company says it now expects to return to profitability in the fourth quarter. Previously, officials said they did not expect that to happen until the 2002 financial year.
"As tough as these decisions were to make, we're doing all the right things to create a new company with a unique competitive edge and a healthy, profitable future," said Ted Waitt, Gateway's founder, chairman and chief executive. "We're planning to win by building a lean, nimble organisation that is unified and focused on our customer base unlike any other time in our history."
The layoffs follow an earlier wave of job cuts and a management shake-up which brought Waitt back to the company's helm after a brief retirement. Gateway axed about 3,000 jobs in January.
Before the cuts were announced, Gateway employed nearly 19,000 workers worldwide.
