The Gateway to Change

Two years ago, Gateway merged with eMachines and named Wayne Inouye as its CEO. This week, Mr. Inouye resigned--which is not good news for Gateway shareholders. (Inouye came to Gateway from Best Buy, a Minnesota company, a company that--in contrast--is making tons of money and whose share price is rocketing up right now.)

The company is trying to stay focused on building its direct sales to consumers and to professional markets. Rick Snyder, Gateway's former company president, will step in as the CEO until a replacement is found. This was a great surprise since the company is rebounding from a previous decline.

"Under Wayne, our retail business has done well and will continue to do well, and we're proud of that fact. We also got the company back to a break-even point," Snyder said during an analyst conference call. "We're excited to continue to build the team and resources to take us to the next level with our professional and direct businesses."

It will be interesting to see where Mr. Inouye will end up and to see how Gateway will change as fallout of this change becomes more apparent.