New Gateway CEO cleans house

In his first day back on the job as CEO of Gateway, company founder Ted Waitt

continued a major house-cleaning in the firm’s top management. After ousting

CEO Jeff Weitzen on Monday, Waitt forced the resignation of chief financial

officer John Todd and appointed a slate of new vice presidents. Some analysts

speculated that Waitt may be readying Gateway for a merger.

But Waitt said he is refocusing the company’s sales growth through more

aggressive pricing. "My top priority is get this business up and going. We

are going to be aggressive on pricing, and realign the cost structure. My job is

to get a team in place that I thought could succeed in this environment. My

management style is different than Jeff Weitzen’s. What I needed was a faster,

more aggressive and more experienced team."

Gateway's share of US PC sales slid to 8.1 per cent, or 1.07 million units,

in the fourth quarter of 2000 from 9.3 per cent and 1.15 million units a year

earlier, according to preliminary figures from Dataquest.

Waitt, 38, founded Gateway in 1985 in his father's South Dakota barn and owns

about 32 per cent of the company. The PC maker sells its products through the

Internet, by telephone order and at its chain of Gateway Country stores.