Gateway may quit UK and Ireland

Gateway 2000 is thought to be about to close its entire UK and Ireland operation with the loss of 1,200 jobs, although at the time of writing no formal announcement has been made.

The company made a loss of $20.8m in the second quarter of this year and sales were down by 46 per cent in Europe last year, compared to an average drop of eight per cent in PC sales in the UK during the same period.

Gateway first came to the UK in 1993 and has since built a reputation as a supplier of PCs mainly to the consumer and small business market.

Mike Maloney, head of Gateway Ireland, recently told the Irish Times that the "company will not survive by just selling personal computers. It is restructuring itself to develop and sell more services and solutions."

This seems to echo the thinking of Gateway founder and chief executive Ted Waitte who, in a memo obtained by the Irish Times, said: "Some people will question our viability because we are shrinking or eliminating revenue in certain segments.

"I say that, unless we get smaller first, unless we stop doing certain things, we'll never get a chance to succeed in the areas that will be critical in the future."

Just what all this means is open to speculation at the moment. When we approached Gateway about the matter a spokeswoman was only able to confirm that the company was in consultation with its workforce over a closure of the UK and Ireland operation and that until that was complete no further details would be available.

However, she did say that service and support would be available to Gateway's existing customers, even though the retail stores and the manufacturing side of the business would cease to exist.

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