Acer Chief Says There Are Too Many PC Companies

For Acer, it's just basic business.

Acer’s chief executive Gianfranco Lanci expressed in a recent interview that he feels that there is too much competition in the PC market. More specifically, he believes that fewer players in the PC making market would lead to greater profits.

While that may sound like Business 101, Lanci took his insight further by saying that companies such as Acer need to look at buying out other computer companies in order to become more profitable.

"This can be a very good industry in terms of making profits if you think about there being four or five players instead of seven or eight as you see today," Mr. Lanci said to the New York Times. "There is not enough profit in the chain to maintain all these players today."

Lanci's logic is that though acquisitions, companies will become larger and thus be able to negotiate for better prices for computer components from suppliers and builders Quanta and Compal.

Acer's already played the buying game with its acquisitions of eMachines, Gateway and Packard Bell, which may have played a part in the company's rise now to rival Dell for the number two spot worldwide, behind Hewlett-Packard.

One thing is for certain, and that is Acer's not afraid to manage different brands it acquires as long as it's the same force pulling the strings in the background.

Lanci said in a previous interview, "One brand is almost impossible, if you want the right product and precision for the right customer profile."

From the sound of the Lanci's statements, Acer isn't finished yet on its mergers and acquisitions roll. While he wouldn't confirm what the company's next move may be, he did add, "I think we need to be part of this consolidation in some way."