In recent years the company has struggled; after years as a fixture on the Forbes 500 list of largest companies worldwide, the company was not listed in 2006. Gateway became widely known in 1991 when they released cow-spotted computer hardware.

History

Gateway struggled after the dot-com bust and tried several strategies to return to profitability, including withdrawal from international markets, reduction in the number of retail stores and most significantly, entering the consumer electronics business. None of these efforts were particularly successful, and Gateway continued to lose market share and suffered major losses.

On January 30, 2004, Gateway purchased low-cost PC maker eMachines, in hopes that its outsourced manufacturing process would help Gateway cut costs and that eMachines' profitable retail business would help its bottom line. Gateway announced its intention to keep the eMachines brand. By April 1, 2004, Gateway had announced that it would shut down its 188 remaining stores. The last day of operations for the stores was April 9, 2004.

Despite its more low tech image, Gateway has long outsourced some of its operations, such as customer support. Gateway produced its last US built computer at its North Sioux City plant in 2004. Gateway used to manufacture various electronic goods, including plasma screen TVs, digital cameras, LCD projectors, wireless internet routers and MP3 players. Gateway has slowly phased all of these products out, but still acts as a retailer selling third party electronic goods online. Gateway bought Amiga computer assets in 1997 and in 2000 they sold the Amiga brand. In 2004, Gateway purchased eMachines for $30 million in cash and 50 million shares of stock, valuing the deal at approximately $262 million. The deal called for Wayne Inouye, eMachines' CEO, to become CEO of Gateway, displacing founder Ted Waitt. Inouye announced his resignation as CEO on February 9, 2006; Chairman Richard Snyder currently serves as Interim CEO.