Lenovo expressed interest this morning in acquiring more PC companies to regain market share lost to Acer last year. Not satisfied with the success of developing the ThinkPad brand into a well-respected industry leader, Lenovo Chairman Yang Yuanqing shared that they were looking to regain market share lost to Acer last year.
Lenovo, ranked as the world’s third largest seller of PCs, lost the spot to Taiwan based Acer in the second half of last year after Acer acquired Gateway and Packard Bell. Now Lenovo is looking to return the favor.
“I believe there will be further consolidation in the industry and we hope to seize the opportunity,” said Yang.
While Yang declined to comment on potential targets or even on the idea of acquiring Acer, Lenovo is financially in a position to make a move. Financial data shows Lenovo with $2.2 billion of cash and equivalents in December 31, 2007. In an April 16 IDC report, Lenovo owned 6.6% of the worldwide market share after the first quarter, while Acer showed an 8.7% stake due to its acquisition of Gateway and Packard Bell. Hewlett-Packard remained on top of it all with an 18.6% market share.
In 2005, Lenovo purchased IBM’s PC unit for $1.25 billion that included the ThinkPad and ThinkCentre brands, then making it the third largest PC maker in the world. Worries of Lenovo turning the ThinkPad line into a low-cost and low-quality product plagued the minds of many IT decision makers. The company has since seen enormous success even amidst low consumers confidence of the China based company taking command of IBM’s renowned brands.
Lenovo recently launched their super-thin Thinkpad X300, with many critics lofting it as the “Macbook Air killer.”
While the company is best known for its business PCs, a line of consumer PCs was recently launched to compete with its consumer-based competitors. Lenovo is also looking to expand in emerging markets as well with offices opening in Poland, India, and Mexico.
