In an interesting chain of buyouts, US computer maker Gateway has now moved a step closer to purchasing Packard Bell, a decision which comes as Acer, headquartered in Taiwan, announced last week that it would deliver its final offer for Gateway on Oct. 10, meaning that the company will likely finalize the deal by the end of the month. In a statement released today, Gateway executives announced that they would continue ahead with an offer to buy Packard Bell, one of the largest PC vendors in Europe, despite the deal with Acer. The exact details of the offer were not announced and a spokesman for Irvine, Calif.,-based Gateway declined to comment.
At this point, the Gateway-Packard Bell purchase, financed by Acer, seems like a strategic move on Acer"s part to prevent rival Lenovo from acquiring the company. When Acer completes the Gateway deal, the acquisition looks to create the world"s third largest PC vendor. The combined revenue of the two companies is expected to top more than $15 billion and their combined shipments will equal out to about 20 million desktops and laptops annually.