Packard Bell has announced massive layoffs, the end of its consumer brand in the United States, and the pending resignation of its chief executive.

The company cites massive financial losses, the result of low plummeting retail prices that have triggered tectonic changes in the PC landscape.

As recently as 1995, Packard Bell was the No. 1 retail PC company in the United States with a 15 percent market share. This past quarter, Packard Bell and its parent - Japanese conglomerate NEC - failed to rank among the top five, and showed year-over-year declines.

Packard Bell will lay off approximately 80 percent of its workforce and completely pull out of the U.S. retail, part of a sweeping overhaul in which the company expects to lose as much as $150 million this year.

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