Acer Inc., the Taiwanese computer maker that bought Irvine-based Gateway Inc. for $710 million last year, is cutting jobs from the city where Gateway has its roots.
Acer said it’s set to cut 130 jobs at Gateway’s North Sioux City, S.D., facility, according to local news reports.
The company is closing Gateway’s “best practices center,” a small division that includes jobs in human resources and technical support, the report showed.
The move could signal that Acer doesn’t have the same sentimental attachment to Gateway’s prairie roots and raises questions about its plans for the Irvine operations as it integrates the two companies.
Gateway was founded in 1985 on the Sioux City, Iowa, family farm of founder Ted Waitt. It later moved to North Sioux City before shifting its headquarters to San Diego in 1998 and Irvine in 2004.
It’s unclear how the Acer acquisition will play out among the some 500 local Gateway workers.
Gateway Chief Executive Ed Coleman said last year he’d stay on to oversee the transition.
