Lenovo Group

Lenovo Group Limited (Simplified Chinese:联想集团有限公司;Traditional Chinese:聯想集團有限公司;Pinyin:Liánxiǎng Jítuán Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī. SEHK: 0992,OTCBB: LNVGY) is today the fourth largest personal computer manufacturer in the world, after Hewlett-Packard and Dell of the US, and Acer of Taiwan.[1]
Lenovo produces desktops, laptops, servers, handheld computers, imaging equipment, and mobile phone handsets. Lenovo also provides information technology integration and support services, and its QDI unit offers contract manufacturing. Lenovo also offers Internet access through its FM365.com portal.
Its executive headquarters are located in Beijing, People's Republic of China and in Morrisville, North Carolina, USA. It is incorporated in Hong Kong.
Products
Lenovo makes a variety of products for world wide sale.[3] These products include:
* Lenovo ThinkCentre desktops
* Lenovo ThinkStation workstations
* Lenovo 3000 J Series desktops
* ThinkPad laptops and tablets
* IdeaPad consumer-oriented laptops
* Lenovo 3000 C, N and V Series laptops
* IdeaCentre desktop
* LCD and CRT monitors
* ThinkVision projectors
Ownership
As of February 29, 2008, 44.4% of Lenovo is owned by public shareholders, 41.8% by Legend Holdings Limited, 6.7% by IBM, 6.5% by Texas Pacific Group, General Atlantic LLC and Newbridge Capital LLC and 0.6 by the directors. Because the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Chinese government agency, owns 65% of Legend Holdings, effectively the Chinese government owns about 27.17% of Lenovo and is the largest shareholder.
The company was founded in 1984 by a group of eleven engineers, headed by Liu Chuanzhi, in Beijing. Originally known as Legend Group Ltd and New Technology Developer Incorporated, the listed holding company was incorporated in 1988 in Hong Kong. The company had become the biggest PC manufacturer of domestic and distributed third party products through its wholesale business.
The company underwent restructuring and separated into two entities. They were Lenovo and Digital China Holdings Limited. Lenovo became the personal computer manufacturer and Digital China took on the wholesale and distribution of IT products and services.[5]
In 2005 Lenovo purchased IBM's PC Division which transformed it into a major international personal computer manufacturer. Lenovo paid $1.27 billion to IBM which consisted of $655 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo stock. As a result of the acquisition, Lenovo gained the rights to the product lines as well as licensed trademarks such as ThinkVision, ThinkPad, ThinkVantage, ThinkCentre, Aptiva, and NetVista. As of May 1, 2005, IBM owned 19.9% of Lenovo.
Legend-Lenovo-IBM Time Line
1980s
* 1981: IBM PCD introduces its first personal computer, the IBM PC.
* 1984: IBM PCD introduces its first portable computer, the IBM Portable PC, weighing 30 pounds. With an initial capital outlay of only RMB300,000 (US$30,000) Lenovo’s founding chairman Liu Chuanzhi, together with 10 like-minded colleagues, launches the New Technology Developer Inc. (the predecessor of the Legend Group) funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
* 1986: IBM PCD announces its first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds.
* 1987: IBM PCD announces the Personal System/2 personal computer. Legend successfully rolls out the Legend Chinese-character card.
* 1988: Legend’s Chinese-character card receives the highest National Science-Technology Progress Award in People's Republic of China. Legend Hong Kong is established.
* 1989: Beijing Legend Computer Group Co. is established.
1990s
* 1990: The very first Legend PC is launched in the market. Legend changes its role from that of an agent for imported computer products into that of a producer and seller of its own branded computer products. Legend PCs are ratified and accepted by the China Torch Program.
* 1992: IBM PCD introduces ThinkPad series, the industry’s first notebook with a 10.4 inch color Thin Film Transistor (TFT) display and a TrackPoint (red ball) pointing device. Legend pioneers the home PC concept and Legend 1 + 1 home PCs enter the Chinese marketplace.
* 1993: Legend enters the Pentium era, producing People's Republic of China’s first “586” PC. Legend establishes 1+1 retail network.
* 1994: IBM PCD introduces the industry’s first notebook with integrated CD-ROM, the ThinkPad 755CD. Legend is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Legend PC business division is formally established.
* 1995: IBM PCD introduces the “butterfly” keyboard. Lenovo moves from Boca Raton, Florida, to Raleigh, North Carolina. Legend introduces the first Legend-brand server.
* 1996: Legend becomes the market share leader in China for the first time. Legend introduces the first Legend brand laptop.
* 1997: IBM PCD introduces the industry’s first notebook equipped with a DVD-ROM, the ThinkPad 770. Legend signs an Intellectual Property agreement with Microsoft, the most valuable deal ever made in China at the time. Legend launches the first multi-function laser printer.
* 1998: IBM PCD introduces the ThinkLight, a small light that illuminates the keyboard for use in low-light work environments, such as aboard an airplane. The millionth Legend PC comes off the production line. Intel Chairman Andy Grove attends the ceremony, and takes the PC for Intel’s museum collection. Legend establishes the first Legend Shop.
* 1999: IBM PCD introduces the industry’s first sub-notebook, weighing under three pounds, with standard ports and a keyboard that is 95 percent the size of full-size keyboards. Lenovo announces its exit from the retail business. IBM PCD introduces the industry’s first PC with an embedded security chip. Legend becomes the top PC vendor in the Asia-Pacific region, and heads the Chinese national Top 100 Electronic Enterprises ranking. Legend launches pioneering Internet PC, with its “one-touch-to-the-net” feature, which enables millions of Chinese PC users to easily access the Internet.
2000s
* 2000: IBM PCD ships its 10 -millionth ThinkPad notebook PC. Legend becomes a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index - HK. Legend ranked in top 10 of world’s best-managed PC vendors.
* 2001: An IBM notebook with an embedded security chip becomes the industry’s first notebook with a security chip designed to the Trusted Computing Group specification, an industry body setting data security standards. Legend successfully spins off Digital China Co. Ltd., which is separately listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Legend appoints Yuanqing Yang as President and CEO. Legend first introduces “digital home” concept and launches accessories-enabling PC.
* 2002: Lenovo PC outsourcing pact with Sanmina-SCI. Legend debuts the DeepComp 1800 supercomputer. It is People's Republic of China’s first computer with 1,000 GFLOP (floating point operations per second) and PRC's fastest computer for civilian use, ranked 43rd in the Top 500 list of the world’s fastest computers. The mobile handset joint venture announced, marking Legend’s formal entry into the mobile handset business.
* 2003: Lenovo introduces a notebook with battery life up to 11 hours. Lenovo introduces its ThinkCentre desktop PC line. IBM PCD ships its 20-millionth ThinkPad notebook PC.
* 2004: IBM PCD introduces the ThinkCentre desktop PC. Lenovo ships its 100-millionth PC. Lenovo becomes an Olympic worldwide partner. Lenovo launches the “Yuanmeng” PC series designed for home users in small villages. Lenovo and IBM announce an agreement by which Lenovo will acquire IBM’s Personal Computing Division, its global PC (desktop and notebook computer) business.
* 2005: Lenovo completes the acquisition of IBM’s Personal Computing Division, making the company the world's third largest computer manufacturer (after Hewlett-Packard and Dell). Lenovo announces it closed a US$350 million strategic investment by three leading private equity firms: Texas Pacific Group, General Atlantic LLC and Newbridge Capital LLC. Lenovo establishes a new Innovation Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Lenovo introduces the ThinkPad X41 Tablet and Z60. William Amelio is appointed as CEO and President of Lenovo.
* 2006: Lenovo introduces dual-core ThinkPad notebook PCs. Lenovo supplies the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy with 5,000 desktop PCs, 350 servers and 1,000 notebook computers. The first Lenovo-branded products outside of China debut worldwide.
* 2007: Lenovo introduces the ThinkPad R61 and T61 notebook PCs. These are the first notebooks to use the new Santa Rosa platform from Intel.
* 2007: Lenovo announces that they are to start selling laptops to business and consumers with Linux pre-installed on their machines. [6]
* 2008: Lenovo enters the Worldwide consumer PC market with the new "Idea" Brand. Lenovo announces 3 new IdeaPad laptops, the Y510 and Y710 desktop replacement computers available by the end of January and the ultraportable U110 available by March 2008.[7]
Environmental Record
The term "green computing" focuses on computers' energy consumption. The less power a computer needs, the less harm to the environment it does. The owner will spend less on energy as well. As environmental ratings become more prominent for computer manufacturers, green computing has gained their attention, and Lenovo has accommodated with this trend. Tom Tobul, executive director of marketing for Lenovo's emerging products business unit, said: "We are seeing a continuing evolution of environmental ratings. Different standards exist in different countries. A trend is starting with more customers specifying green their purchasing requests."[8]
With the launch of ThinkCentre A61e desktop PC in 2007, Lenovo has become a leading manufacturer of environment-friendly computers.It was also the first time a Lenovo product received the prestigious EPEAT Gold Status.[9]
Greenpeace also rated Lenovo as the world's most environmentally friendly electronics firm in 2007, ahead of Nokia, Sony/Ericsson, Dell, and Samsung. Greenpeace examined the companies by which toxic chemicals electronics they use while making hardware, and what efforts the companies employ to help former customers recycle their products when they're no longer usable. Lenovo was ranked poorly in the past surveys but made huge breakthroughs by offering no-questions-asked recycling services for old hardware in all of the countries where its products are sold.
However, Greenpeace stated that no electronics firms are truly "green" in that all of them contribute, in some way, to environmental distress. Lenovo also used some of the most toxic chemicals possible in its manufacturing plants, according to the same article.