BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 5, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- COVER STORY Weitzen Country It was a high-blood-pressure event last July when Ted Waitt and Jeffrey Weitzen met with America Online Inc. Chairman Stephen M. Case and President Robert W. Pittman at AOL's Virginia headquarters. They had arrived at a common view of the post-PC future, and were keen to cut a deal that wedded their fortunes. But Weitzen was cautious. He had been through the wringer of failed partnerships when he headed AT&T's $24 billion business markets division. As they flew back to San Diego on Waitt's Gulfstream jet, Weitzen crafted a one-page list of conditions designed to keep their economic interests aligned. Example: They'd share revenues, whether Gateway Inc.'s PC customers opted for gateway.net or AOL as their Internet access provider. The next morning, Waitt faxed the list to Case, and the courtship heated up. Waitt may be Gateway's visionary, but Weitzen is adept at turning his boss's broad-brush concepts into business reality. Since joining Gateway as president in January, 1998, Weitzen, 44, has played an ever-more-vital role in the company's affairs. ''Jeff's great. Increasingly, he's setting the direction,'' says Waitt, who promoted his partner to CEO and head of the company's day-to-day operations six months ago. Now, Weitzen is focused on finding allies to manufacture a new generation of Net devices that Gateway will market with AOL and expanding the company's chain of 260 Gateway Country stores in the U.S. to 320 by yearend. He's already made an indelible mark. Weitzen's first major contribution drew on his background in the telecommunications industry. In May, 1998, he unveiled the company's pioneering ''Your:)Ware'' service. Telecoms customarily sell bundles of services--such as long-distance and paging. Gateway's service allows a consumer to pay monthly installments for a PC and a variety of services, including software, Internet access, in-home help, and the industry's first trade-in option. Tanned, trim, and soft-spoken, Weitzen seems like a laid-back, southern-California sort of guy. Don't believe it. He's so obsessed with his job that he closed a huge deal to locate Gateway outlets within OfficeMax Inc. stores during a family vacation--sitting poolside at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Ariz. ''Thanks to my cell phone and laptop, I don't think anybody knew,'' he says. If Weitzen keeps this up, it won't be long before everybody knows the truth about Gateway: It's a two-man show. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Gateway's Big Gamble TABLE: The PC Maker for the Internet Generation RESUME: Theodore W. Waitt Weitzen Country INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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