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..JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2009 |
SDSU Students Provide Consulting to Small Businesses Christie Hefner to Speak at EMC Event Mortar Board Honors CBA Faculty Members Fowler Offers Tips for Success Ted Waitt Visits SDSU Business Class Dr. Chris Thornberg Visits SDSU SDSU’s Hosts International MBA Business Plan Competition Seventh Annual SDSU Month Celebrates the Meaning of “Aztec for Life” |
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On November 17, Gateway Computer founder, Ted Waitt, was the guest lecturer at Dr. Massoud Saghafi’s class (Marketing 769 – International Marketing), where he discussed how he co-founded Gateway Inc. and their rise and fall in the international market.
While working at a computer store in Iowa, Waitt dropped out of the University of Iowa in mid-1980’s to start his business. The company, first called TIPC Network, began by manufacturing computers and selling them over the phone. By 1999, Gateway had become one of the most successful computer manufacturers in the world.
Waitt discussed Gateway’s entry into the international market, starting in Ireland in 1993 and moving throughout Europe and Asia. At first, Waitt and Gateway experienced phenomenal success, however, after Waitt’s first retirement from the company in 1999 and his return to the company in 2001, the company’s stock prices and sales, both domestically and abroad, were dropping.
Eventually, Waitt said, the company pulled out of the international market altogether in order to concentrate on sales domestically. In 2007, Gateway was sold to Acer, a Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer.
Waitt currently heads up the Waitt Family Foundation, and Avalon Capital Group headquartered in La Jolla, California.