Media Release From: Gateway
GATEWAY SHUTS DOWN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND SALES, MAINTAINS CUSTOMER SUPPORT
SYDNEY, 29 Aug., /MediaNet International-AsiaNet/-- Following a global review of operations, leading US-based PC vendor
Gateway has announced the immediate cessation of sales and marketing activities in Australia and New Zealand, although
support and warranty programs for existing Gateway customers will be maintained.
According to Gateway vice president, Asia Pacific, Mr. Sam Weiss, the Asia Pacific regional closure announcement is
among several market withdrawals being announced internationally by Gateway.
Speaking from Gateway regional head office in Sydney, Mr Weiss said: In the overall context of rapidly changing PC
market conditions, Gateway undertook a company-wide operations review on a market-by-market basis during August 2001
which focused on seeing how we could implement our solutions strategy to grow and be profitable in all target markets.
Regrettably, the company has concluded that it will not be able to invest the necessary resources to achieve this
result in Australia or New Zealand. We are therefore ceasing sales operations here.
We are today announcing the closure of Gateway operations in Australia and New Zealand. From a sales and marketing
point of view, the closure is effective immediately. All 18 Gateway stores throughout Australia and New Zealand are now
closed.
No further orders will be taken. Customers who ordered in the last 14 days will be eligible for a full refund and we
will be contacting them to ask them whether they want to proceed with their order.
Support, warranty and parts services will continue so existing customer support will be maintained. Customer support
services will continue without interruption through existing third party service providers already providing Gateway
customer support in Australia and New Zealand.
Staff Redundancies
About 200 Gateway employees are impacted in Australia, with a further 19 in New Zealand. Most will leave Gateway within
the next few days. All employees including all regional managers are impacted. All were advised of the closure at
company meetings this morning.
All affected employees have been offered a package of severance benefits which in every case exceeds the legal
requirements in Australia and New Zealand, Mr. Weiss said. Gateway is working with an outplacement organisation to
provide a full outplacement service. This includes training to help employees with CV preparation, assistance in
identifying job opportunities and dealing with job loss.
Regional Manufacturing Facilities
As part of the regional announcement, Gateway is simultaneously closing its manufacturing plant in Melaka, Malaysia.
A total of about 430 jobs will be lost in Singapore and Malaysia as a result of the closure in South East Asia. About
400 of these are directly related to the Melaka manufacturing facility in Malaysia, with 28 Asia management staff based
in Singapore.
Issued by Gateway Asia Pacific, 6- 10 Talavera Road, North Ryde, NSW, Australia 2113. Telephone 61 2 9641 2000.
For further information on Gateway global restructuring announcements see the Gateway.com website.
ENDS