Acer history

Frank P. Reid is named general secretary and serves until 1979.

In 1981, the company was given the name ‘Acer Inc.’ Their first successful product was the ‘Microprofessor’ which went on to provide them with revenue for their future projects.

The company began manufacturing PC clones—computers and components that were sold to larger companies with strong brand names—in 1983.

Arthur Friedberg succeeds Frank Reid as executive director and serves until 1984.

Thus in 1986 it was able to develop the world’s first Chinese language computer which came with an Intel 386 processor.

The company was renamed Acer in 1987.

Acer’s bold moves paid off and at in the year 1988 it had earned $25 million in profits only.

In 1989, Shih hired Leonard Liu away from a 20-year career with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), making him president of the Acer group and chairman and chief executive officer of Acer America Corp.

By 1990 Acer’s revenue had reached close to $1 billion but it had only profits of $4 million.

Financial World 's Jagannath Dubashi was skeptical that the company's investments would pay off, noting in her July 1991 coverage of the company that "this new aggressiveness seems both poorly timed and unrealistic." She even characterized the company's bold moves as "a desperate gamble."

In January 1992, he offered to resign from the company he had founded.

In 1993 Acer was able to record profits of $75 million.

In 1994 it was able to reach $3.2 billion in revenue out of which $210 million were profits.

By 1995, Acer was able to become the number one selling computer brand in countries like Philippines, Thailand, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay and Taiwan.

Spinoffs of Acer Peripherals, the corporation's manufacturer of keyboards and monitors, and Acer Sertek, the Taiwanese distribution operation, were planned for 1996.

In 1997 Acer America lost $141 million.

In 1998 Acer reorganized into five groups—Acer International Service Group, Acer Sertek Service Group, Acer Semiconductor Group, Acer Information Products Group, and Acer Peripherals Group.

——, "For Acer, a Bad Year Turns Brutal," Businessweek Online , January 15, 2001.

Paul Holbrook succeeds Arthur Friedberg as executive director and serves until 2003.

By late 2004, the industry rankings were in Acer's favor.

Forecasting into 2005, the company anticipated its global revenue would increase by 30 to 40 percent.

Glenn Harvey is named executive director and serves until 2006.

The Wallace Foundation in their October 2007 Conference Educational Leadership a Bridge to School Reform coined the term Cohesive Leadership System.

Scott Steen is named executive director and serves until 2010.

In the year 2011, Acer has $16 billion in revenue with more than 7,500 employees.

Today Acer has diversified its range of products to include low-cost desktops, laptops, servers, storage devices, peripherals and also the latest smartphones, tablets, etc. Its fairy tale journey has continued ever since and it went on to become the fourth largest PC manufacturer of the world in 2012.

In September 2018, Acer spun-off its smart gadget unit GadgeTek Inc., which produces Leap Beads, smart prayer beads that track mantras and footsteps.