Acer's founder built a PC giant — then struggled for a decade to find someone to run it

Acer was founded by Stan Shih in 1976 and grew into one of the world's largest PC makers. In 2004, Shih stepped down as chairman, believing the company needed professional management to move beyond its founder-driven culture. He remained an advisor but handed control to J.T. Wang and Gianfranco Lanci, a seasoned European PC executive who became president in 2005.

The transition unravelled quickly. Lanci resigned in March 2011 after clashing with the board over strategy — he wanted to push into mobile devices while the board remained focused on PCs. Acer paid $320 million for iGware, a cloud-gaming company, that same year, a deal widely criticised as overpriced and unfocused. By 2013, the PC industry was in structural decline and Acer reported a net loss of NT$13.1 billion ($445 million) for the first nine months of the year.

In November 2013, chairman and CEO J.T. Wang and president Jim Wong both resigned after the company posted a record quarterly loss. Stan Shih, then 68, returned as interim chairman and president to stabilise the company. He appointed Jason Chen, a former TSMC and VIA executive, as CEO in December 2013. The founder who had left to let professionals manage was back running the company he had built.