Asus formally splits into three companies

Asustek's plan to promote and build the Asus brand has always involved splitting the company into three distinct units, and it looks like the company has finally gone ahead and taken that step -- say hello to the new Asus, which only makes Asus-branded computers, Pegatron, which will handle OEM, mobo, and component manufacturing, and Unihan, which will concentrate on casing, modules and other non-PC manufacturing. Pegatron and Unihan are expected to continue the former Asus' manufacturing tasks with little to no dropoff or transition, but there's a nasty little surprise in store for employees of all three new companies: their former pensions have all been cancelled, and the clock started anew as of January 1. No wonder they named these companies after rejected Decepticons.

[zhuntai @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:38PM]

First :D.

And whoa... PEGATRON heh

[JohnTitor @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:12PM]

Pegatron+ASUS= Pegasus
don't know where Unihan came from

[Sora267 @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:44PM]

Asus + Unihan = Asshan, which is clearly a new sexual stimulation technique.

..

Okay, what kind of name is Unihan?!

[John B @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:55PM]

Unihan = Unicron + {unknown}, perhaps?

Yeesh. I love Asus motherboards, but if they name themselves after a planet-eating gargantuan, I think it's time to chance to a different manufacturer.

[Hung @ Jan 4th 2008 1:37AM]

The names are throwbacks to old American companies from the 1980's.

Pegatron: Mass manufactured Transformers merchandise, such as toasters and sandals.

Unihan: Unicode based artists. Using letters and symbols, they drew things such as boobs and ligers to satisfy the general public's need for images before the interweb switched to the blistering 28.8 K it was in the 90's.

[cromas @ Jan 4th 2008 6:41PM]

I know it's old...but I can't believe nobody has made the robot overlords joke yet. For once, it actually makes sense. Allow me to do the honors.

I, for one, welcome our new OEM-handling, Autobot-battling robot overlords.

[paragraph @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:49PM]

:\

Its not like Asus is even a good enough company to think about getting away with this.

Bieng a total dick to your employees sucks big time.

The names suck too

*grumble grumble grumble*

[shanoboy @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:02PM]

I really like ASUS stuff but the stuff about ditching their employee's pensions is enough for me to overlook them from now on when shopping for tech stuff.

[LagmastaC @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:50PM]

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

[Odd TSi @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:54PM]

So I'll be buying Pegatron mobos now? Not sure I like the sound of that.

[John B @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:56PM]

What if they call their first motherboard the Optimus or the Prime? :)

[sinai @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:56PM]

their marketing dept needs to be fired.

all of them

[Acemetrical @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:31PM]

Pegatron is Megatron's poor wooden cousin from the country.

[Bobs @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:14PM]

Think of how much money ASUS is going to lose from loss of brand association. nobody at the store will look at pegatron and think, hmm, that sounds respectable. If it was me, i would have made it ASUS motherboards, or something like that, so they know that ASUS is still backing the board. seriously, pegatron?

[Deputy Doffoos @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:57PM]

Is Pegatron a Decepticon or an Autobot?

I must know before joining forces, you know

[kyle allen @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:02PM]

its actually a whole different race of centient beings, but thankfully they also have joined the fight against the evil forces of the decepticon.

[UloPe @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:57PM]

Dropping the Asus brand in the MoBo sector in favour of some generic sounds-like-it-was-cheap name is IMHO a "VERY BAD IDEA" (tm)

Another example of moronic "marketing" decisions...

[kyle allen @ Jan 3rd 2008 6:57PM]

i just bought an asus laptop, and my desktop is mostly asus parts, i think they're a great company and make quality products, but that pension thing is totaly lame, if i worked for asus, id make like a writer, and strike

[Rob @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:01PM]

"but there's a nasty little surprise in store for employees of all three new companies: their former pensions have all been cancelled, and the clock started anew as of January 1"
And then they wonder why no one gives a crap about their employers. When it comes to screwing their employees, most companies don't give it a second thought. They all have their employees fooled with the carrot and stick, and then once they got a good squeeze out of them with long hours and empty promises, they give you a kick in the ass and say goodbye. No, I'm not jaded. I've seen this bs done over and over again all over the place. From China, to Europe, to the US. All these a--holes are the same.

[4honor @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:15PM]

I am thinking this is their way to make the employees quit, and then they can hire new kids at cheaper price, and no pension since they are new. If the old people decides to stay, Asus will still have to pay them the their regular rate. Just another way to "layoff" people for little more money.

[Sizer @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:01PM]

Who the heck came up with 'Pegatron'? This is already a hepatitis drug, and a fertility drug. Plus it just sounds dumb.

[cmdwedge @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:07PM]

"but there's a nasty little surprise in store for employees of all three new companies: their former pensions have all been cancelled, and the clock started anew as of January 1."

So what you're saying is, my Eee PC is the last thing I'll ever buy from ASUS? Right then.

[ryan @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:11PM]

Wait, I think that it means that Asus can actually transform into one of three companies, Asus, Pegatron or Unihan.

[Samurai Jack @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:41PM]

No, only two. I think you're missing the irony of the Unihan name.

Uni - Han. As in what Chinese call themselves.

Asus believes they're the dominant life form on the planet, and they'll destroy us all to make it happen!
DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL! DESTROY US ALL!

[ryan @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:18PM]

I'm pretty sure it's Unihan like Unicron.

[voodoo288 @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:38PM]

Quote from the article

"This may certainly seem archaic, if not illegal in the U.S., though the majority of Taiwanese companies offer no pension plans. As of March 2007, Taiwanese companies and citizens are allowed to let the government invest pension funds in a state-run super-fund."

[Stickarm @ Jan 3rd 2008 7:39PM]

It doesn't seem like Engadget is portraying this accurately. Saying "their former pensions have all been cancelled" sort of sounds like the company has yanked pension benefits for retired employees, bringing to mind horrible images of little old folks suddenly left to starve in the street.

Instead, what seems to have happened is that current employees have had the money they invested in the company's pension plan returned to them. Not simply cancelled, not like the money has just gone away or was stolen.

http://www.dailytech.com/New+ASUS+Corporate+Structure+Zeroes+Employee+Pensions/article10206.htm

And while that might be a shitty thing for current employees who are close to retirement, it's likely that the pre-restructuring pension plan wasn't old enough to be meaningful in this regard anyway. Apparently laws in Taiwan about responsibility for pensions changed just two years ago.

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:p8G_N4Lew8EJ:www.elitelaw.com/09SearchNewsletter/EN/New%2520Retirement%2520Pension%2520Act%252020050406.pdf+taiwan+pensions&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

The writing here has to qualify as blogging, as opposed to journalism. It would be great is Engadget put in the legwork now and followed up on this post properly.

[Roland @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:49PM]

As a current Asus employee, I can confirm your statements. We get our pension back (invested when old laws still applied), not canceled.

[AJ in the East Bay @ Jan 4th 2008 12:13AM]

I love Engadget, but I'm going to click those "Read" links on their blog entries to avoid unnecessary anger. I was all pissed off about this pension cancellations and now I find out the employees got the pension money. Perhaps "cancellation" IS the correct term to pay off a pension, but Engadget made no effort in clarifying it in this blog entry.

Note to self: Cross-reference, cross-reference, cross-reference when reading blogs.

[JC @ Jan 4th 2008 11:12AM]

Glad to see someone does their homework. Reading an article out of context and taking it for truth is just as bad as writing it, IMHO.

I learned long ago that Engadget was a site where I could come to read blog entries about quirky gadgets and chuckle at snide remarks, but the Read link has always held more insight.

[shawn @ Jan 4th 2008 12:10PM]

They got their money back... with or without interest?

[OneLove @ Jan 5th 2008 5:40PM]

You guys act like you don't watch tv. They do the same thing everyday.

[Montusama @ Jan 3rd 2008 8:55PM]

I wonder why Asus decided to split up....wonder if it was done to avoid another Bell disaster :P, btw is a "broken" up company or more of a company thats just divided into parts, and all owned by the same people?
Still will buy my asus laptop (someday)....as for mobo....might be time to look elsewhere

[JB @ Jan 3rd 2008 10:01PM]

Are you sure they didn't mean penatrode?

[Z @ Jan 4th 2008 2:41AM]

"...but there's a nasty little surprise in store for employees of all three new companies: their former pensions have all been canceled, and the clock started anew as of January 1."


What a bunch of asshats. Way to go Asus. Way to treat your employees like dirt. When I see things like this, I'd love nothing more than for all the employees to quit and find other jobs, and put the whole stupid company out of business, or cause their stock to plummet.

Of course, just because of that, I'll never buy an Asus branded computer. Ever. And I'll tell everyone else to stay away from their systems, too. I don't support companies like this who treat their employees that way. If Asus is really doing this, then they're like Enron, Part II.

But aside from all that, WHAT is up with those names? Although "Unihan" may sound a bit "off", it's passable, but "Pegatron"? LOL... that can't be real! I mean, seriously, that has to be some sort of a joke... What dork came up with THAT name? How could you even take a company seriously with that stupid name? Sounds like a company being run by a bunch of guys who've never spent a single moment with a woman.

And how embarrassing it would be to announce to a group of grown men and women that you run a company called PEG-A-TRON. That would make any exec sound like a big, overgrown 12-year old.

[JC @ Jan 4th 2008 11:23AM]

As J said, it would probably turn your world upside down to learn that ASUS OEM's for tons of companies.

For example, I might tell you that Asus has made laptops for Sony, Apple, and other big name "manufacturers", but your hardcore boycott of Asus might make it very hard for you to buy another computer, ever. So I'll keep that under wraps, mmmkay?

[Z @ Jan 5th 2008 3:16AM]

@ J and JC

Yeah, well, that's all well and good - "the tangled webs we weave" and all that - but do either of you read English? As I said, I won't buy an Asus branded computer. I never said anything about OEM parts or whether they build for other companies or not (many companies do that) - which I don't care about, because there are some things we can't control or know about, and so there's no point in fussing over those things. What exactly did either of you think I was trying to suggest? I was speaking about the aspects I CAN control with MY money. It's about personal choice. I'm certainly not going to advertise their name all over. Both of you could have easily deduced all of those things if you had actually bothered to read and consider more carefully what it is I wrote. And anyone who supports your responses is just as poor at reading comprehension as both of you.

And J, why do you talk to me like you have a chip on your shoulder? Do you help run one of these companies or know someone who does? Are you a stock holder? Because if none of that is the case, then I fail to understand your over-sensitivity in this picture and why it's pointed in my direction; and I don't see where it is I ever mentioned you in my initial post. Regardless, what I said still stands. In the meantime, both of you, do yourselves and the rest of us a favor: try the decaf and go out and get some fresh air. "Mmmkay?"

[Z @ Jan 5th 2008 3:28AM]

Oh yeah, and one last thing: No, I hadn't read Stickarm's post. I don't read every single post in every thread I participate in - I don't always have time for that. But if Asus in fact, didn't do what Engadget claims they did (and you'll notice in my first post that I put a condition on my statements by saying "IF Asus is really doing this, then yada yada..."), then you can blame Engadget for their poor/inaccurate reporting. It wouldn't be the first time (and wouldn't be the last) they got something completely wrong, leading the rest of us astray. And if THAT'S the case, then I retract my boycott. But my comments about the goofy name still stands.

"Mmmkay?"