Acer promotes Gianfranco Lanci to CEO, J.T. Wang becomes Acer Group CEO

It's not like Acer's Gianfranco Lanci (shown right) was hurtin' for cash -- after all, the guy was (and still is) president of the company -- but there's just nothing quite like slapping "and CEO" on the end of said title. Approved by the outfit's Board of Directors today, Mr. Lanci has been promoted to Chairman, while the previous CEO, J.T. Wang, will serve as Acer Group CEO. From what we can tell, there's no hard feelings about any of the moves, and c'mon, it is nice to move from one corner office to another every now and then, you know?

[Via PCWorld]

[Mile @ Jun 13th 2008 9:54AM]

Wang.

[Josh L @ Jun 13th 2008 10:00AM]

Wang.

Hehehehehehehehe!

[ddast @ Jun 13th 2008 10:38AM]

Is that a Wang on your board or are you just pleased to see me?

[tiuk @ Jun 13th 2008 11:12AM]

I decided to click comments for this post just to re-affirm my belief that Engadget readers will jump all over the opportunity to comment on a guy named Wang.

Thanks for not disappointing ;)

[Michael @ Jun 13th 2008 10:02AM]

HAHA Wang!.....

(Sorry..... :/ )

[shimmy shimmy yah @ Jun 13th 2008 10:12AM]

damn beat me to it but here goes regardless..

hahaha WANG!!!!

[duffman @ Jun 13th 2008 10:16AM]

Haha, bald guys.

[Zeek @ Jun 13th 2008 10:57AM]

Acer Wang, Private Dick, Esq.

[muddyh2o @ Jun 13th 2008 11:12AM]

more guys who getting paid millions to run a company where they don't really understand why their products matter to the readers of this site.

it doesn't matter what these guys are selling. people at their level are only good (or not good) at running generic businesses.

[tekdroid @ Jun 13th 2008 11:17AM]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/23/ce-oh-no-he-didnt-part-xxxx-acers-gianfranco-lanci-says-ent/
Someone should interview him and ask him what he thinks of Vista post SP1 :)
Engadget?

[TheAcerGuy @ Jun 13th 2008 11:36AM]

That's hardly a fair comment. He might have been lurking in the background for years but he's been instrumental in making Acer the world's #3 IT company with products that are obviously far more relevant to their buyers than you make out.

This shift will help reign in Acer's disparate global "identity" and is a HUGE step towards making it a better company all round.

Don't quite understand what you mean by "where they don't really understand why their products matter to the readers of this site" but I'd like to think that the people I work with do (and Lanci's one of them) and the results show.

And if all the comments you guys can come up with are of the caliber on display here, what's there to understand?

[muddyh2o @ Jun 13th 2008 11:38AM]

congrats on being #3!

[Matt @ Jun 13th 2008 12:20PM]

"Mr. Lanci has been promoted to Chairman"
No he hasn't. At least, not according to the linked article. He was promoted to Acer Inc. CEO, Wang is the chairman.
I'm confused though, what's the relationship between Acer Group and Acer Inc.?

[TheAcerGuy @ Jun 13th 2008 1:05PM]

They are two separate companies:

The official line is: "Acer Incorporated is part of the Acer Group. The Acer Group comprises several companies and markets a broad spectrum of branded IT products, e-business solutions and services. In addition, the group supplies multiple brands of IT products including components and software in Greater China."

Basically Acer Group is the holding company that owns various companies including Acer Inc. which in turn now owns Gateway and Packard Bell.

Having Lanci as CEO of Acer Inc. gives him a much more focused role and puts him in the driving seat of the strategies and products Acer will develop in future.

[Scott Meade @ Aug 4th 2008 12:26PM]

Acer sucks. Sorry to put it so bluntly. We have had two Acer laptops that both perform terribly. One of them has been shipped to Acer service three times. They currently have our laptop now for four weeks. We call every day and are only told "the system is down" so they cannot give us information on when we will get it back.

Terrible product and absolutely the WORST customer service ever experienced. Terrible, un-helpful reps who do not call back when promised.

At least with Apple, I simply walk into their store and get my problems fixed first hand.

Acer Sucks. Buy one and you will be very disappointed.