Acer, the world"s Number 4 PC maker, reported that its operating income for the third quarter reached $86.16 million, compared to the $60.65 million it turned in for the same quarter a year ago. The Taipei, Taiwan-based company also said its revenue grew to $3.74 billion from $2.91 billion in the year-ago period. Acer recently closed its acquisition of Gateway, and the company did not break out separately any financial data from the Irvine, Calif.-based PC maker.
According to research house IDC, Acer shipped 5.4 million PCs, compared to 3.4 million units for the same quarter a year earlier -- meaning Acer has been able to grow its worldwide unit shipments and its profitability at the same time. The company remained behind Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo in worldwide market share prior to the Gateway deal. Gateway is also working to acquire France-based Packard Bell, and has delivered a binding offer to that company.