Acer says it’s giving its channels a $150 million (£91 million) sales allowance - resulting in an operating loss of the same amount - having found “high channel inventory and disputed accounts receivable” in its Europe, Middle East and Africa operations. It says internal audits of its EMEA operations revealed a number of abnormalities.
The company is also cutting around 300 employees from its EMEA operation, which will cost around $30 million in compensation but will save around $30 million per year.
All members of Acer’s board of directors have voluntarily committed to cut their remuneration by 50% as a result of the write-off, with chairman and CEO J.T. Wang giving up all the remuneration from his position as board director and his employee bonus. Other employees are likely to have their 2010 bonus cut by 40%.