Lenovo buys back phone business

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Lenovo acquiring mobile-phone business

PC maker Lenovo said today that it is buying back the mobile-phone business it divested last year to exploit the growing market in China for hand-held devices that access the Internet.

The $200 million in cash and stock that the Chinese computer maker is paying for Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology is twice the price Lenovo received for the business in March 2008. At that time Lenovo said it wanted to focus on its core PC business.

Lenovo, which has a headquarters in Morrisville that employs 1,500, said that the switch in strategy stemmed from "changed market conditions" in which PC and mobile-phone technologies are converging.

Cell-laptop hybrid looks good for Lenovo

Lenovo's plan to pioneer a new type of mobile gadget - a "smart book" that's a hybrid between a smart phone and a stripped-down laptop - is a promising move for the world's No. 4 computer maker, analysts say.

Although the Chinese computer maker is at the forefront of this new category, a flurry of competition is expected to emerge next year because of the market potential. Lenovo has a headquarters in Morrisville, where it employs 1,500.

"They want to make sure they're on the front end," said technology analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group. "They want to establish themselves as the leader."

Lenovo quarterly profit rebounds on strong sales

Lenovo Group, the world's fourth-largest personal computer maker, reported its second straight quarterly profit on Thursday as a 33 percent rise in sales drove its recovery from the global downturn.

Profit for the three months ending Dec. 31 was $80 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with a $97 million loss for the same period of 2008, said Lenovo, based in Beijing and in Morrisville, North Carolina. Global sales rose to $4.8 billion.

Lenovo was hit hard by the global economic crisis, which prompted its corporate customers to slash purchases. The company suffered three losing quarters before rebounding to earn $53 million in the three months ending Sept. 30.

Lenovo bets big on smartbook

The Triangle's lone PC maker is placing some big bets this week in Vegas.

The company, which has struggled with U.S. sales during the recession, is hoping to make a splash at the International Consumer Electronics Show by pioneering what some analysts expect will be a hot new category in the computer market: smartbooks, a hybrid of smart phones and netbooks.

Lenovo plans to introduce its version, Skylight, today. The Chinese company, which has a world headquarters in Morrisville that employs 1,500, also will introduce its latest Idea laptops and desktops for consumers.

Lenovo stakeholder selling 29%

The biggest stakeholder in the parent company of Lenovo said Monday that it was seeking to sell 29 percent of the parent company's shares for $404 million.

The stakeholder, the asset management arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, owns 65 percent of Legend Holdings, the parent of Lenovo.

Lenovo is the largest personal computer maker in China and the fourth-largest maker of PCs after Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Acer. The company employs about 1,500 people at its Morrisville headquarters.