Gateway's Coleman Gets $650K Salary, Bonus
According to terms of Gateway's offer to Coleman, made public in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Coleman is also set to be paid two years salary and target bonus if he ends his employment at the company for "good reason."
Coleman will step into the job Sept. 18, leaving his post as president of Arrow Electronics' Enterprise Computing Solutions, where he worked for one year. Prior to that, Coleman was CEO of corporate reseller CompuCom Systems.
In taking over Gateway, Coleman takes over a company that has been feeling pressure from shareholders and others in the market on several fronts. The company has turned down an offer from Lap Shun Hui, the former owner of eMachines, to sell him Gateway's retail operations for $450 million.
"I am disappointed that Gateway's Board made a decision to reject the offer without engaging in any discussions with me to either refine the terms of my proposal for the purchase of Gateway's retail operations or to discuss alternative acquisition proposals," Hui said in a statement earlier this week.
And another group of investors, led by the groups Firebrand Partners and Harbinger Capital Partners, which owns more than 10 percent of Gateway's outstanding shares of stock, have been asking management of the PC company to consider several options for boosting the corporate brand.
Scott Galloway, a partner in Firebrand Partners, said he did not yet have a reaction to the appointment of Coleman to run Gateway. "I don't know much about him," Galloway said. "I look forward to meeting him."
Galloway said discussions between his investor group and Gateway have been continuing. "It's an ongoing dialogue, and I would describe it as productive," Galloway said.
Gateway did not immediately respond to requests for an interview with Coleman.