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96-808: Lenovo Group Limited , trading as Lenovo ( / l ə ˈ n oʊ v oʊ / lə- NOH -voh , Chinese : 联想 ; pinyin : Liánxiǎng ), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics , personal computers , software, business solutions, and related services. Its global headquarters are in Beijing , and Morrisville, North Carolina , United States; it has research centers at these locations, elsewhere in China, in Stuttgart, Germany , and in Yamato, Japan . Lenovo originated as an offshot of

192-482: A 5% share. Lenovo and NEC also agreed to explore cooperating in other areas such as servers and tablet computers. Roderick Lappin, chairman of the Lenovo–NEC joint venture, told the press that the two companies will expand their co-operation to include the development of tablet computers. In June 2011, Lenovo announced that it planned to acquire control of Medion , a German electronics manufacturing company. Lenovo said

288-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with

384-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In

480-626: A Lenovo product every day. I have to get people interested first and then find the opportunity to promote it once in awhile." Yang is often referred to as "YY" by his colleagues at Lenovo. Yang was awarded the May Fourth Youth Medal, by the All-China Youth Federation in 1999. In 1999 and 2001, the magazine BusinessWeek named him one of the "Stars of Asia." In 2004, he was listed among "Asia's 25 Most Influential Business Leaders" by Fortune Asia . Yang

576-585: A U.S. operational centre in Morrisville, North Carolina, the former home of IBM's personal computer business. Yang has created a "performance culture" instead of the traditional Chinese work style of "waiting to see what the emperor wants." Yang holds an annual banquet at his home in Beijing for Lenovo's top executives. Traditionally, each guest at the banquet stands up and uses a toast to set goals for their business unit. Yang has said that when Lenovo enters

672-516: A businessperson writes a trade name on a contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from

768-578: A change in typography or the look of the logo. We asked 'If we really are a net-driven, customer-centric company, what should the logo look like?' We came up with the idea of a digital logo first [...] designed to be used on the internet and adaptable to context." In early June 2015, Lenovo announced plans to sell up to US$ 650 million in five-year bonds denominated in Chinese yuan. The bonds were sold in Hong Kong with coupon ranging from 4.95% to 5.05%. This

864-475: A closer relationship with Intel, the maker of most server processors, through its acquisition of IBM's x86-based server business. On 1 October 2014, Lenovo closed its acquisition of IBM's server division, with the final price put at $ 2.1 billion. Lenovo said this acquisition came in at a price lower than the previously announced $ 2.3 billion partially because of a change in the value of IBM inventories. The deal has been already approved by Europe and China. Per Forbes,

960-493: A company doing quality checks on computers. It also tried and failed to market a digital watch. In May 1988, Lenovo placed its first recruitment advertisement on the front page of the China Youth News . Such ads were quite rare in China at the time. Out of the 500 respondents, 280 were selected to take a written employment exam. 120 of these candidates were interviewed in person. Although interviewers initially only had

1056-489: A final sale in 2011 completing their divestment. Mary Ma , Lenovo's chief financial officer from 1990 to 2007, was in charge of investor relations. Under her leadership, Lenovo successfully integrated Western-style accountability into its corporate culture. Lenovo's emphasis on transparency earned it a reputation for the best corporate governance among mainland Chinese firms. While Hong Kong-listed firms were only required to issue financial reports twice per year, Lenovo followed

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1152-690: A governmental research institute. Then known as Legend, the company developed numerous electronics before focusing on personal computers. Co-founder Liu Chuanzhi incorporated Legend in Hong Kong in an attempt to raise capital and was successfully permitted to build computers in China. It listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1994 and became the largest PC manufacturer in China and eventually in Asia; they were also domestic distributors for HP printers, Toshiba laptops, and others. After

1248-716: A joint venture with Fujitsu and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ). In the joint venture, Fujitsu would sell Lenovo a 51% stake in Fujitsu Client Computing Limited . DBJ would acquire a 5% stake. In September 2018, Lenovo and NetApp announced about strategic partnership and joint venture in China. As part of strategic partnership Lenovo started two new lines of storage systems: DM-Series and DE-Series. Both storage systems using Lenovo hardware and NetApp software: DM-Series using ONTAP OS and DE-Series SANtricity OS. In 2018, Lenovo became

1344-609: A market economy and that in the early 1990s had fought and beaten four state-owned enterprises that dominated the Chinese computer market. Those firms had the full backing of the state while Lenovo received no special treatment. The State Department deal went through. Yang worried that fears about Lenovo's supposed connections to the Chinese government would be an ongoing issue in the United States. Yang worked to ease worries by communicating directly with Congress. In June 2006, Yang arranged to be seated next to C. Richard D'Amato ,

1440-465: A master's degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 1988. Yang spotted a newspaper advertisement for jobs at Lenovo while in Beijing performing research for his master's degree at the University of Science and Technology of China . Yang had initially planned on becoming a university professor but took a risk and accepted a position with Lenovo in sales. He was paid

1536-473: A member of the congressional committee that had earlier raised concerns about the security of Lenovo's products. D'Amato later stated that he was impressed with Yang's candor. The issue soon faded away. While Lenovo's working language in its U.S. operational centre in Morrisville is English, Yang initially did not understand the language well; he relocated his family to Morrisville to improve his language skills and soak up American business culture. Yang also hired

1632-475: A new building in 1997. He used the move to break Lenovo's cultural links to the past. He insisted on a more formal dress code and training all employees in telephone etiquette; Yang wanted his people to think and act like high-tech workers in developed markets. After addressing human resources issues, Yang moved on to distribution. Due to China's large territory, large population, varying degrees of economic development, and widely different local regulations, Lenovo

1728-462: A new corporate culture. At the end of its first two years, Lenovo Group had met many of its original challenges, including integrating two disparate cultures in the newly formed company, maintaining the Think brand image for quality and innovation, and improving supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies. However, Lenovo had failed to meet a key objective of the merger: leveraging the combined strength of

1824-492: A new logo at Lenovo Tech World in Beijing, with the slogan "Innovation Never Stands Still" ( Chinese : 创新无止境 ). Lenovo's new logo, created by Saatchi, can be changed by its advertising agencies and sales partners, within restrictions, to fit the context. It has a lounging "e" and is surrounded by a box that can be changed to use a relevant scene, solid color, or photograph. Lenovo's Chief Marketing Officer David Roman said, "When we first started looking at it, it wasn't about just

1920-548: A new market they intend to be number one. Yang stated, “If you don’t have enough scale, if you don’t have enough volume, it’s hard to make money. If you don’t have enough market share, it’s hard to make money. That’s why we enter the markets one by one. When we enter a market, we want to quickly get double-digit market share.” In 2012, Yang received a US$ 3 million bonus as a reward for record profits, which he then redistributed to about 10,000 of Lenovo's employees. According to Lenovo spokesman, Jeffrey Shafer, Yang felt that it would be

2016-400: A private tutor and watched cable news to practice. Yang also sent many Lenovo executives to the U.S. for long postings. One American Lenovo executive interviewed by The Economist praised Yang for his efforts to make Lenovo a friendly place for foreigners to work. As of 2013, Lenovo's top 14 executives come from seven countries. Lenovo has acquired companies all over the world. The company has

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2112-458: A registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name, is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of

2208-603: A system of performance evaluations used to determine annual bonuses. At the time, most Chinese enterprises distributed bonuses of equal size to all employees, there was little sense of responsibility, and workers passively waited for superiors to issue instructions. When Yang took over Lenovo's personal computer division, he strongly discouraged the use of formal titles and required staff to address each other by their given names. Yang even required managers to stand outside their offices each morning to greet their employees while carrying signs with their first names. Yang's division moved to

2304-432: A team of engineers led by Liu Chuanzhi and Danny Lui . Initially specializing in televisions , the company migrated towards manufacturing and marketing computers. Liu Chuanzhi and his group of ten experienced engineers , teaming up with Danny Lui , officially founded Lenovo in Beijing on November 1, 1984, with 200,000 yuan . The Chinese government approved Lenovo's incorporation on the same day. Jia Xufu (贾续福), one of

2400-458: A year as a result. The change was requested by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to combat what they referred to as a rise in the number of pirated versions of Windows. These versions were predominantly being installed on the hard drives of computers with no bundled operating system. Steve Ballmer said, "Yuanqing made a huge difference. He was willing to go out on a limb." Yang also proved to be effective at navigating American politics. In early 2006,

2496-545: Is a manufacturer of personal computers, smartphones, televisions, and wearable devices. Some of the company's earliest products included the KT8920 mainframe computer and a circuit board that allowed IBM-compatible personal computers to process Chinese characters. One of its first computers was the Tianxi ( 天禧 ), released in 1998 in the Chinese market. It became the best selling computer in Chinese history in 2000. Lenovo markets

2592-454: Is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using a simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between

2688-410: Is arguably one of the greatest case studies on merging massive international enterprises. Though this acquisition in 2005 ultimately resulted in success, the integration of the businesses had a difficult and challenging beginning. Lenovo had employees from different cultures, different backgrounds, and different languages. These differences caused misunderstandings, hampering trust and the ability to build

2784-540: Is based on my strong belief in the company's very bright future. Our culture is built on commitment and ownership – we do what we say, and we own what we do. My decision to increase my holdings represents my steadfast belief in these principles." In April 2015, Yang required all members of Lenovo's media team to be active on at least one social media outlet. Yang is an active user of Sina Weibo , Twitter and LinkedIn . Yang encourages his team to talk about their personal lives on social media. He said, "I cannot just promote

2880-570: Is called a razón social . Yang Yuanqing Yang Yuanqing ( simplified Chinese : 杨元庆 ; traditional Chinese : 楊元慶 ; pinyin : Yáng Yuánqìng , born 12 November 1964) is a Chinese business executive and philanthropist who is the current chairman and CEO of Lenovo . Yang was born on 12 November 1964 to parents both educated as surgeons. He spent his childhood in Hefei in Anhui province. He grew up poor, as his parents were paid

2976-504: Is not expected to significantly affect earnings. More specifically, Stoneware was acquired to further Lenovo's efforts to improve and expand its cloud-computing services. For the two years prior to its acquisition, Stoneware partnered with Lenovo to sell its software. During this period Stoneware's sales doubled. Stoneware was founded in 2000. As of September 2012, Stoneware is based in Carmel, Indiana, and has 67 employees. Lenovo re-entered

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3072-623: Is only the second sale of bonds in Lenovo's history. Financial commentators noted that Lenovo was paying a premium to list the bonds in yuan given relatively low costs for borrowing in US dollars. Lenovo said that its x86 servers will be available to all its channel partners. Lenovo plans to cut prices on x86 products in order to gain market share. This goes in alliance with IBM 's vision of the future around cloud technologies and their own POWER processor architecture. Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's businesses

3168-588: The IdeaPad , Yoga , LOQ, and Legion consumer lines of notebooks, and the IdeaCentre , LOQ, Legion, and ThinkCentre lines of desktops. Lenovo is also part of a joint venture with NEC , named Lenovo NEC Holdings, that produces personal computers for the Japanese market. The company also operates Motorola Mobility which produced smartphones. Lenovo was founded in Beijing on 1 November 1984 as Legend by

3264-789: The Moto X , Moto G , Droid Turbo , and the future Motorola Mobility product roadmap, while Google retained the Advanced Technologies & Projects unit and all but 2,000 of the company's patents. Lenovo received royalty free licenses to all the patents retained by Google. Lenovo received approval from the European Union for its acquisition of Motorola in June 2014. The acquisition was completed on 30 October 2014. Motorola Mobility remained headquartered in Chicago, and continued to use

3360-462: The ThinkPad , IdeaPad , Yoga , Legion and Xiaoxin ( 小新 ; Chinese market only) lines of laptops, as well as the IdeaCentre and ThinkCentre lines of desktops. It expanded significantly in 2005 through its acquisition of IBM 's personal computer business, including its ThinkPad and ThinkCentre lines. As of January 2013, shipments of THINK-branded computers have doubled since Lenovo's takeover of

3456-406: The U.S. State Department was harshly criticized for purchasing 16,000 computers from Lenovo. Critics attempted to smear Lenovo as controlled by the Chinese government and a potential vehicle for espionage against the United States. Yang spoke out forcefully and publicly to defend Lenovo. He said, " We are not a government-controlled company." He pointed out that Lenovo pioneered China's transition to

3552-466: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use

3648-473: The CEO Roundtable on Cancer, an international non-profit group founded in 2001, focused on preventing cancer and advancing research that promotes improved patient outcomes. The group is known for its "CEO Cancer Gold Standard," a workplace wellness program that promotes risk reduction, early detection, and effective treatment. Yang publicly pledged to implement this standard at Lenovo. In October 2015,

3744-637: The China Entrepreneurs' Association, and as a member of the New York Stock Exchange 's International Advisory Committee. Yang also teaches as a guest lecturer at the University of Science and Technology of China . Additionally, Yang is a director of Baidu , and sits on the board of visitors of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University . In March 2015, Yang joined

3840-633: The Hong Kong market in March 2000 and raised about US$ 212 million . It rebranded to the name Lenovo in 2003 and began making acquisitions to expand the company. Lenovo acquired IBM 's personal computer business in 2005, including the ThinkPad laptop and ThinkCentre desktop lines. Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's personal computer division accelerated access to foreign markets while improving Lenovo's branding and technology. Lenovo paid US$ 1.25 billion for IBM's computer business and assumed an additional US$ 500 million of IBM's debt. This acquisition made Lenovo

3936-542: The LePhone. At the same time, LeGarden counted 2,774 individual developers and 542 developer companies as members. On January 27, 2011, Lenovo formed a joint venture to produce personal computers with Japanese electronics firm NEC . The companies said in a statement that they would establish a new company called Lenovo NEC Holdings, to be registered in the Netherlands. NEC received US$ 175 million in Lenovo stock. Lenovo

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4032-547: The LenovoEMC brand, and designed products for small and medium-sized businesses that could not afford enterprise-class data storage. Lenovo has since retired all of the LenovoEMC products on their product page advising that the products are no longer available for purchase on lenovo.com. IBM sold its x86-based server lines, including System x and Blade Center , to Lenovo in 2014. Lenovo says it will gain access to more enterprise customers, improve its profit margins, and develop

4128-509: The Motorola brand, but Liu Jun, president of Lenovo's mobile device business, became the head of the company. In April 2014, Lenovo purchased a portfolio of patents from NEC related to mobile technology. These included over 3,800 patent families in countries around the world. The purchase included standards-essential patents for 3G and LTE cellular technologies and other patents related to smartphones and tablets. In May 2015, Lenovo revealed

4224-595: The No. 2 provider of smartphones in the domestic Chinese market in 2012. However, with approximately 100 smartphone brands sold in China, this only equated to a 10.4% market share. In May 2012, Lenovo announced an investment of US$ 793 million in the construction of a mobile phone manufacturing and R&D facility in Wuhan , Hubei . In 2013, Lenovo created a joint venture with EMC named Iomega . The venture took over Iomega's business and rebranded all of Iomega's products under

4320-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,

4416-549: The United States Department of Treasury Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was reportedly the last major hurdle for Lenovo, since the United States has the strictest policies. According to Timothy Prickett-Morgan from Enterprise Tech, the deal still awaits "approval of regulators in China, the European Commission , and Canada". After closing, Lenovo said that its goal

4512-545: The acquisition would double its share of the German computer market, making it the third-largest vendor by sales (after Acer and Hewlett-Packard ). The deal, which closed in the third quarter of the same year, was claimed by The New York Times as "the first in which a Chinese company acquired a well-known German company." This acquisition will give Lenovo 14% of the German computer market. Gerd Brachmann, chairman of Medion, agreed to sell two-thirds of his 60 per cent stake in

4608-512: The acquisition, Lenovo announced that its subsequent acquisitions would be concentrated in software and services. In September 2012, Lenovo agreed to acquire the United States–based software company Stoneware, in its first software acquisition. The transaction was expected to close by the end of 2012; no financial details have been disclosed. Lenovo said that the company was acquired in order to gain access to new technology and that Stoneware

4704-824: The authority to hire 16 people, 58 were given offers. The new staff included 18 people with graduate degrees, 37 with undergraduate degrees, and three students with no university-level education. Yang Yuanqing , the current chairman and CEO of Lenovo, was among that group. Liu Chuanzhi received government permission to form a subsidiary in Hong Kong and to move there along with five other employees. Liu's father, already in Hong Kong along with Lui, furthered his son's ambitions through mentoring and facilitating loans. Liu moved to Hong Kong in 1988. To save money during this period, Liu and his co-workers walked instead of taking public transportation. To keep up appearances, they rented hotel rooms for meetings. In 1990, Lenovo started to manufacture and market computers using its own brand name. Some of

4800-423: The award with Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and SpaceX . The Edison Awards honor innovation in science and technology and recognize individuals for their “broad contributions to technical innovation.” Yang was the first person from East Asia ever to receive the award. Past winners include Steve Jobs , Ted Turner , Doug Ivester , and Martha Stewart . In 2015, Yang was listed on Forbes billionaire list. Yang

4896-680: The brand, with profit margins thought to be above 5%. Lenovo aggressively expanded the THINK brand away from traditional laptop computers in favor of tablets and hybrid devices such as the ThinkPad Tablet 2 , ThinkPad Yoga , ThinkPad 8 , ThinkPad Helix , and ThinkPad Twist ; the shift came as a response to the growing popularity of mobile devices, and the release of Windows 8 in October 2012. Lenovo achieved significant success with this high-value strategy and in 2013 controlled more than 40% of

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4992-539: The company agreed upon at this meeting was the Chinese Academy of Sciences Computer Technology Research Institute New Technology Development Company. The organizational structure of the company was established in 1985 after the Chinese New Year . It included technology, engineering, administrative, and office departments. The group first attempted to import televisions but failed. It rebuilt itself as

5088-488: The company hit $ 60 billion in annual revenues. On 8 October 2021, Lenovo withdrew its application to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange just days after it had been accepted by the exchange, citing the possibility of the validity of financial information in its prospectus lapsing as the reason. The price of the company's shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange dropped by over 17% following the news, which

5184-437: The company publicly announced its new English name, "Lenovo", with an advertising campaign including huge billboards and primetime television ads. Lenovo spent 18 million RMB on an eight-week television advertising campaign. The billboards showed the Lenovo logo against blue sky with a slogan that read, "Transcendence depends on how you think." By the end of 2003, Lenovo had spent a total of 200 million RMB on rebranding. Lenovo

5280-597: The company rebranded itself to Lenovo, it acquired IBM 's PC business including its ThinkPad line in 2005, after which it rapidly expanded abroad. In 2013, Lenovo became the world's largest personal computer vendor by unit sales for the first time, a position it still holds as of 2024. Products manufactured by the company include desktop computers , laptops , tablet computers , smartphones , workstations , servers , supercomputers , data storage devices, IT management software, and smart televisions . Its best-known brands include its ThinkPad business line of notebooks,

5376-475: The company's early successes included the KT8920 mainframe computer. It also developed a circuit board that allowed IBM-compatible personal computers to process Chinese characters. Lenovo (known at the time as Legend) became publicly traded after a 1994 Hong Kong IPO that raised nearly US$ 30 million at HK$ 1.33 per share. Prior to the IPO, many analysts were optimistic about Lenovo. On its first day of trading,

5472-414: The company's international resources, such as its global sales channels and operation teams. These three elements have shored up our sales revenue in the past several years." The employees of the division, including those who developed ThinkPad laptops and Think Centre desktops, became employees of Lenovo. Despite Lenovo acquiring the "Think" brand from IBM, IBM still plays a key indirect, background role in

5568-490: The company's stock price hit a high of HK$ 2.07 and closed at HK$ 2.00 suggesting an initial under-valuing of the company. Proceeds from the offering were used to finance sales offices in Europe, North America and Australia, to expand and improve production and research and development, and to increase working capital. By 1996, Lenovo was the market leader in China and began selling its own laptop. By 1998 it held 43 per cent of

5664-484: The company. He will be paid in cash for 80 per cent of the shares and will receive 20 per cent in Lenovo stock. That would give him about one per cent of Lenovo. In September 2012, Lenovo agreed to acquire the Brazil -based electronics company Digibras, which sells products under the brand-name CCE, for a base price of R$ 300 million (US$ 148 million) in a combination of stock and cash. An additional payment of R$ 400 million

5760-617: The conference and both gave speeches on corporate governance. Lenovo sold its smartphone and tablet division in 2008 for US$ 100 million in order to focus on personal computers and then paid US$ 200 million to buy it back in November 2009. As of 2009, the mobile division ranked third in terms of unit share in China's mobile handset market. Lenovo invested CN¥ 100 million in a fund dedicated to providing seed funding for mobile application development for its LeGarden online app store . As of 2010, LeGarden had more than 1,000 programs available for

5856-484: The corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when

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5952-534: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where

6048-427: The design and production of the Think line of products. Today, IBM is responsible for overseeing servicing and repair centers, and is considered an authorized distributor and refurbisher of the Think line of products produced by Lenovo. IBM also acquired an 18.9% share of Lenovo in 2005 as part of Lenovo's purchase of IBM's personal computing division. In the years following the deal, IBM sold their stake in Lenovo, with

6144-465: The domestic computer market share in China, selling approximately one million computers. Lenovo released its Tianxi ( 天禧 ) computer in 1998. Designed to make it easy for inexperienced Chinese consumers to use computers and access the internet, one of its most important features was a button that instantly connected users to the internet and opened the Web browser. It was co-branded with China Telecom and it

6240-470: The equivalent of US$ 30 per month. In 1989, Yang joined Legend, as Lenovo was then known, at the age of 25. He was quickly promoted. Yang travelled to meet distributors throughout China and used his technical knowledge to achieve a strong sales record. Yang also stood out at Lenovo for being a quiet, deep thinker. These qualities caught the attention of Liu Chuanzhi , who later promoted Yang to head Lenovo's personal computer business at just 29 years old. Yang

6336-527: The founders of Lenovo, indicated that the first meeting in preparation for starting the company was held on October 17 the same year. Eleven people, the entirety of the initial staff, attended. Each of the founders was a member of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The 200,000 yuan used as start-up capital was approved by Zeng Maochao (曾茂朝). The name for

6432-422: The international norm of issuing quarterly reports. Lenovo created an audit committee and a compensation committee with non-management directors. The company started roadshows twice per year to meet institutional investors. Ma organized the first-ever investor relations conference held in mainland China. The conference was held in Beijing in 2002 and televised on China Central Television (CCTV). Liu and Ma co-hosted

6528-588: The key to its expansion. Yang Yuanqing was chairman of Lenovo's board from 2004 to 2008. In February 2009, Yang gave up his position as chairman and again became CEO at Lenovo. In 2005, Yang Yuanqing undertook a deal with Microsoft to have Windows preloaded on most Lenovo computers sold in China. In exchange, Microsoft China offered a rebate on Windows and marketing assistance. Other manufacturers adopted this approach afterwards, partly due to Yang's substantial influence in China's technology industry. Microsoft tripled its sales of preloaded versions of Windows within

6624-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business

6720-579: The market for Windows computers priced above $ 900 in the United States. Trade name In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a ) is used to designate a trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as "

6816-510: The marketing of its products to look out for the interests of distributors. In contrast to Lenovo, foreign firms often tried to squeeze distributors' margins. Yang ensured proper training of distributors and brought in Microsoft and Intel to help with these efforts. Yang also set up a system to monitor the sales, inventory, cash flow, compliance, and pricing of distributors. Many analysts cite Lenovo's distribution system and after sales service as

6912-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of

7008-604: The price of his competitors. Within a year of joining Lenovo in 1988, Yang had lost interest in sales and had taken the TOEFL in preparation to study overseas. Yang stayed on after repeated requests from Liu Chuanzhi. Yang believed that he would benefit from exposure to American business practices but Liu persuaded him to delay his plans for two years. Problems at Legend due to lower import duties on personal computers did not allow for this though. Yang decided on Lenovo implementing specific job descriptions with clear responsibilities and

7104-512: The pride of China in the IT industry. Lenovo is my life's struggle and career, I have invested all of my energy into it. I firmly believe that Lenovo, a product of China, will stand atop the world's stage. As you can now see, our dream is being realized step-by-step." On 1 May 2014, Yang received the 2014 Edison Achievement Award in San Francisco at the annual Edison Awards Gala. Yang shared

7200-701: The right thing to, "redirect [the money] to the employees as a real tangible gesture for what they done." The bonuses were mostly distributed among staff working in positions such as production and reception who received an average of CN¥2,000 or about US$ 314. This amount of money was almost equivalent to a month's pay for the typical Lenovo worker in China. Yang contributed another US$ 3.25 million bonus to 10,000 Lenovo employees in 2013. Employees in 20 countries benefited from Yang's gift. 85% of recipients were in mainland China. As in 2013, these workers were typically hourly production staff. Shafer also said that Yang, who owns about eight percent of Lenovo's stock, "felt that he

7296-537: The same salaries as manual laborers. Yang's father, Yang Furong, was a disciplined man with strict standards. Yang said of his father, "If he set a target, no matter what happened, he wanted to reach it." While his parents wanted him to pursue a career in medicine, and he had a budding interest in literature, Yang decided to study computer science on the advice of a family friend who was a university professor. Yang earned an undergraduate degree in computer science from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 1986 and graduated with

7392-409: The smartphone market in 2012 and quickly became the largest vendor of smartphones in mainland China. Entry into the smartphone market was paired with a change of strategy from "the one-size-fits-all" to a diverse portfolio of devices. These changes were driven by the popularity of Apple's iPhone and Lenovo's desire to increase its market share in mainland China. Lenovo surpassed Apple Inc. to become

7488-459: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who

7584-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file

7680-608: The third-largest computer maker worldwide by volume. Lenovo's purchase of the Think line from IBM also led to the creation of the IBM/Lenovo partnership, which works together in the creation of Think-line of products sold by Lenovo. On the purchase of IBM's personal computer division, Chuanzhi said in 2012: "We benefited in three ways from the IBM acquisition. We got the ThinkPad brand, IBM's more advanced PC manufacturing technology and

7776-650: The two companies to grow volume and market share. In order to achieve success, Lenovo embraced diversification at multiple levels- business model, culture, and talent. By 2015, Lenovo grew into the world's number 1 PC maker, number 3 smartphone manufacturer and number 3 in the production of tablet computers. In March 2017, Lenovo announced it was partnering with Fort Lauderdale, Florida–based software storage virtualization company DataCore to add DataCore's parallel I/O -processing software to Lenovo's storage devices. The servers were reportedly designed to outperform Storage Area Network (SAN) SAN arrays. In 2017, Lenovo formed

7872-439: The web and electronic devices. Yang said that while the internet has brought many advances it also brings new challenges such as protecting privacy and securing personal information. Yang said that legal loopholes and widespread corruption create major challenges to securing personal data. Yang made his proposal at the advisory body's annual meeting. Yang also serves on the board of Communist Youth League of China , as director of

7968-630: The world's largest provider for the TOP500 supercomputers . In 2020, Lenovo became a preferred data center innovation provider for DreamWorks Animation starting with Trolls World Tour . On 12 January 2021, Lenovo filed an application to issue Chinese depositary receipts, representing newly issued ordinary shares, and to list them on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange . In April 2021, Lenovo

8064-438: Was bundled with one year of Internet service. The Tianxi was released in 1998. It was the result of two years of research and development. It had a pastel-colored, shell-shaped case and a seven-port USB hub under its screen. As of 2000, the Tianxi was the best-selling computer in Chinese history. It sold more than 1,000,000 units in 2000 alone. To fund its continued growth, Lenovo issued a secondary offering of 50 million shares on

8160-531: Was elevated to CEO of the whole company when Liu retired in 2001. Liu described Yang as "A man who moves forward, takes risks and aims to innovate." Liu also said, "I had been observing Yang a long time before I appointed him to take over the PC business. He had clear goals, was broad-minded and straightforward. We trusted him." Yang's first major task at Lenovo was to write a bid to become an IBM reseller. After submitting his bid, Yang discovered that he had quoted twice

8256-568: Was first used to refer to a layout of Chinese typewriters in the 1950s organized into groups of common words and phrases rather than the standard dictionary layout. For the first 20 years of its existence, the company's English name was "Legend". In 2002, Yang Yuanqing decided to abandon the Legend English name to expand beyond the Chinese home market. "Legend" was already in use worldwide by many businesses, making it impossible to register in many jurisdictions outside China. In April 2003,

8352-474: Was having difficulty operating nationwide. While Lenovo had been using direct sales and a network of distributors, Yang gave up on direct sales in favor of exclusively using independent agents to avoid the costs of administering a complex sales network. This action resulted in Lenovo cutting its sales staff from over 100 to just 18 in 1994. To gain confidence among distributors, Lenovo provided a wide range of products, offered reasonable prices, and closely supervised

8448-404: Was its biggest intraday decline in over a decade. "Lenovo" is a portmanteau of "Le-" (from Legend) and "novo", Latin ablative for "new". The Chinese name ( simplified Chinese : 联想 ; traditional Chinese : 聯想 ; pinyin : Liánxiǎng ) means "association" (as in "association of ideas"), "associative thinking", or "connected thinking". It also implies creativity. "Lianxiang"

8544-553: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In

8640-481: Was made dependent upon performance benchmarks. Prior to its acquisition of CCE, Lenovo already established a $ 30 million factory in Brazil, but Lenovo's management had felt that they needed a local partner to maximize regional growth. Lenovo cited their desire to take advantage of increased sales due to the 2014 World Cup that would be hosted by Brazil and the 2016 Summer Olympics and CCE's reputation for quality. Following

8736-466: Was named "2007 Chinese Business Leader" by Fortune China . In 2008, Forbes Asia named Yang "Businessman of the Year." In 2011, Finance Asia named Yang the "Best CEO in China." In December 2012, Yang was named one of the "2012 CCTV China Economic Figures" in a televised award ceremony of CCTV . Yang received the same award in 2004. During the ceremony Yang said, "I have a dream that Lenovo will become

8832-542: Was reorganized into three divisions: The Intelligent Devices Group for PCs, Smartphones, Smart Collaboration products, Augmented and Virtual Reality solutions and Internet of Things devices, the Infrastructure Solutions Group (formally known as Data Center Group) for smart infrastructure solutions, and the Solutions and Services Group focused on services and industry-specific products. That year,

8928-470: Was rewarded well simply as the owner of the company." According to Lenovo's annual report, Yang earned US$ 14 million, including US$ 5.2 million in bonuses, during the fiscal year that ended in March 2012. Yang greatly increased his ownership stake in Lenovo by acquiring 797 million shares in 2011. Before, he owned only 70 million shares. Yang said, "While the transaction is a personal financial matter, I want to be very clear that my decision to make this investment

9024-599: Was selected to accompany the Chinese president Xi Jinping on a state visit to the United States in September 2015. Yang serves on the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference , China's top governmental advisory body that includes more than 2,000 of China's elites from all sectors of society. In 2014, he pushed for legislation to protect privacy and personal data on

9120-636: Was to become the world's largest maker of servers. Lenovo also announced plans to start integrating IBM's workforce. The acquisition added about 6,500 new employees to Lenovo. Lenovo said that it has no immediate intent to cut jobs. Lenovo said that positions in research and development and customer-facing roles such as marketing would be "100% protected", but expected "rationalization" of its supply chain and procurement. On 29 January 2014, Google announced it would sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo for US$ 2.91 billion. As of February 2014, Google owned about 5.94% of Lenovo's stock. The deal included smartphone lines like

9216-498: Was to own a 51% stake in the joint venture, while NEC would have 49%. Lenovo has a five-year option to expand its stake in the joint venture. This joint venture was intended to boost Lenovo's worldwide sales by expanding its presence in Japan, a key market for personal computers. NEC spun off its personal computer business into the joint venture. As of 2010, NEC controlled about 20% of Japan's market for personal computers while Lenovo had

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