Asustek Computer announced that the company saw its first quarterly loss since the company was founded in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company plans to reduce executive salaries until its operations return to normal.
Due to increasing competition in the netbook market as well as below-expectation shipments of motherboards and graphics cards, Asustek estimates its operating gross margin reached 10-13% in the fourth quarter of 2008, while operating profit margin fell to negative 5-8% and net profit margin dropped to negative 2-5%.
Market watchers" estimate the company"s fourth-quarter revenues at NT$68 billion (US$2.05 billion) translating to a quarterly loss of around NT$1.36-3.4 billion.