SACRAMENTO: The recent announcement by Japan’s NEC Corp. that it is discontinuing its Packard Bell brand in the US and laying off 1,400 employees has left the one-time PC giant with a huge PR headache - and many of its top communications pros looking for a job.
SACRAMENTO: The recent announcement by Japan’s NEC Corp. that it is
discontinuing its Packard Bell brand in the US and laying off 1,400
employees has left the one-time PC giant with a huge PR headache - and
many of its top communications pros looking for a job.
Ron Fuchs, VP of corporate communications for Packard Bell NEC,
confirmed that his entire department, which had shrank to just three
in-house pros, was a casualty of the stateside shutdown. Neither Fuchs
nor either of his two main staffers, director of corporate
communications Nickerson Miles and communications coordinator Mary Sue
Hendricks, will be relocated to Mountain View, where NEC will continue
to manufacture and market its higher-end corporate computer product
line.
The Mountain View-based PR pros were largely unaffected by the news,
though PR manager Beth Makosey said her ranks had already thinned due to
attrition over the past year. However, she said she is seeking a
mid-sized, hi-tech agency to assist with PR for NEC’s four remaining
product lines: servers, notebooks, desktops and handheld PCs.
Fuchs, who will remain at the company through December, said he has yet
to line up another gig, though he is ’talking to headhunters and
exploring my options.’ But he emphasized that his first priority is in
assisting his colleagues find other positions.
Once a pioneer in the low-end PC market, Packard Bell NEC was decimated
in recent years by intense competition, especially from companies
selling PCs on the Web.
