BenQ Corp. plans to spin off its brand name business from the division that makes equipment for other IT vendors and change the corporate identity of the Taiwan-based company.
However, resellers and customers in Canada will see no difference in the branding of the company’s digital projectors and LDC monitors, the only products it sells here under the BenQ name, its Canadian general manager said.
“It’s separating the branded business from OEM business,” said Mike Booker. “The OEM business is going to operate under the new name. “The BenQ branded business will still remain under the BenQ brand.”
While BenQ makes or sells a wide range of products under its brand, including laptops, digital cameras and optical drives, its has limited what it sells here. Booker said it is still considering whether to bring its laptop line into Canada.
The corporate split comes seven months after BenQ announced it would stop investing in German handset subsidiary BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co. OHG, which it took off the hands of Siemens A.G. in 2005 for U.S.$339 million.
Since then, BenQ Mobile has filed for bankruptcy and laid off thousands of employees in Germany, some of whom have been shown on TV picketing against the Taiwanese parent and Siemens. BenQ has said it lost over US$1 billion in the attempt to turn BenQ Mobile into a profitable business.
But stiff competition in the mobile phone industry hurt the company’s efforts to build a new brand, and after racking up losses of over