China Company buys IBM

[General Nuisance]

Hey i found this i think it sickning....

China Computer Maker Acquires IBM PC Biz

AP (AP) -- - China's biggest computer maker, Lenovo Group, said Wednesday it has acquired a majority stake in International Business Machines Corp.'s personal computer business for $1.25 billion, one of the biggest Chinese overseas acquisitions ever.

Under the terms of the deal, which ends IBM's long transition from PC pioneer to peripheral player, IBM will keep an 18.5 percent stake in the company, said Lenovo's chairman, Liu Chuanzhi.

Lenovo is taking over IBM's desktop PC business, including research and development and manufacturing, Liu told reporters in Beijing.

The acquisition would make Lenovo the third-largest PC company in the world, he said.

Like other major Chinese manufacturers hoping to expand overseas, Lenovo is planning to leverage a well-known foreign brand name. Liu said the company would be entitled to freely use IBM's brand name in five years' time.

Lenovo is China's biggest computer maker, claiming a 27 percent market share, and is also the biggest in Asia. Its shares are traded in Hong Kong.

The announcement Wednesday followed reports that a deal was imminent. On Tuesday, Lenovo's Hong Kong unit confirmed it was in talks with a "major international company in the information technology business" but hadn't named the company, saying the negotiations were confidential.

IBM's PC division had sales of nearly $13 billion over 12 months ended in September.

With speculation about the impending deal mounting Tuesday, IBM's stock fell $1.57 per share to $96.10 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The companies expect that by combining operations, they'll be able to save money on manufacturing and expand their razor-thin profit margins despite intense pricing pressures. Lenovo also hopes the IBM brand and the company's vast corporate client base will bolster its sagging fortunes.

IBM still designs its ThinkPad laptops and ThinkCentre desktops, but no longer manufactures them at any plants it owns alone. Instead, all its PCs are either produced through joint ventures or outsourced to other manufacturers.

While still very well-regarded in terms of quality, IBM's PC business ranks a distant third in terms of units sold, having surrendered the market lead by the late 1990's, according to the technology research firm Gartner Inc.

Globally, IBM sold 6.8 million PCs in the first nine months of 2004 for a 5 percent market share, Gartner said. That compares with 16.4 percent for Dell Inc. and 13.9 percent for Hewlett-Packard Inc., which makes both the HP and Compaq brands.

Both IBM and Lenovo have been grappling with the difficulties of turning a profit on PCs, a business that has suffered steep price declines over the past decade thanks to aggressive competition from Dell and upstarts such as eMachines Inc., which was acquired earlier this year by Gateway Inc.

Where an entry-level desktop computer once rarely sold for less than a thousand dollars, consumers can now find powerful, name-brand machines with a wide array of the latest bells and whistles for less than $500, including the monitor.

As a result, despite frequent accolades for many of its ThinkPad laptops, IBM has been shifting focus away from the PC business for years, emphasizing more profitable operations such as technology consulting, systems management, software and outsourcing.

Lenovo, formerly known as Legend, currently holds a 2 percent share of the PC market, according to Gartner.

But while Lenovo also has moved to lessen its dependence on PC's by expanding into cell phone manufacturing and information technology services, the company has said more recently it wants to focus on its core computer business again.

IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., has nearly 320,000 employees.

isnt this sick i mean IBM started it all.

well im going to go throw up later.

Found On TBO.com

IBM THINKPAD rocks...china can have it...communits.

[BADDOG]

This just goes to show that China will eventually become an economic giant!

Regards

[Hellfighter]

yea if China buys out IBM Home computer system no one going to buy it at all, man i really think IBM stocks will really go out in a flash if they sell it out. no one will ever trust them again.

IBM has always be fore fathers in Computer system for a long time. i love them for going into research in new fields but this one really hit below the belt. really wish a U.K or a MFG in the USA or better in the AUS be better buy it out then letting it go to China thats low. man i could be happy even if Sony got into it.

China been letting fake thing be made over there and they can't or will not put a stop to it. i hope the US government lockout some thing from being release to China.

[Steve]

geeez what's up with you guys?

the only thing that might be different is that prices might be lower.

you think of all the thousands of workers will get sacked and all the factories close? nope. it will be the same ppl doing the same stuff, just with some different ppl watching over it.

IBM employees know thier stuff and the new owners will hardly deviate from the current working state.

generally a company's knowledge is worth more than physical assets. AP have pulled a real smart move here, and they will more likely use IBM staff to improve their own business and methods rather then change the IBM culture.

i see it as a good thing, but i have nothing against chinese ppl. sry guys but your comments seem slightly racist IMO.

[Lakie]

well said steve, i suspect that in 2100 humans will look back at this era and wonder like we do at the days of severe racial segregation...

And chief, you do realise Sony is a Japanese comapny?

[Hellfighter]

Steve it not that IBM has a long history here in the US they do. some of us think it sorry as heck no one could pull them out of it. funny on how all them other Computer MFG here in the USA could go and sale it cheaper prices and IBM hold out to long. i really think IBM did it to them selves.

a lot of computer system can be use at home or the office and IBM says you buy the name for top dollars you get great item to use. only a lot of company's & family's today are hurting and going for the cheap good quality item to use and with the service to boot.

will like all good things sooner or later they to die off.

[SilentTrigger]

Its like volvo, bought by ford, but its still volvo with volvo quality and volvo workmenship. Only thing that changed was the christmas presents, which now are different from the rest of Volvo. I guess they will be getting guns instead of the usual Volvo present. Oh and they changed the computer network. Other then that its the same

Bofors is still about Swedish quality and world class technology (the world leader in smart weapons, like smart artillary rounds). But its still owned by United Defense. Only thing bad is Saab, they lost a lot with the sell to GM Saab Defence is still doing great though. So is Volvo Aero (volvo aero make parts of aircraft engines, such as F/A 18 Super Hornet), though those companys haven't been sold hehe

Basicly all of the bigger companys here in Sweden produce weapons or part for weapon systems

Even DICE (maker of Battlefield series games) have connections in the military industry

[Dr. Bullet]

Here comes the first part of China's becoming the next biggest thing: buying America's r&d companies. As I'm sure some of you know, IBM is one of our forefront research and development companies in America. They're leading the way in such things as AI. They are the developers of the best chess computer Deep Blue, which beat the best human chess player in the world.

I predict that we'll see more aquisitions like this in the near future. Everything in America has a price, and I'm sure China will dole out whatever money it has to to buy our biggest companies.

I'm a naysayer, what can I say

[BOne]

Originally posted by Steve
geeez what's up with you guys?

the only thing that might be different is that prices might be lower.

you think of all the thousands of workers will get sacked and all the factories close? nope. it will be the same ppl doing the same stuff, just with some different ppl watching over it.

IBM employees know thier stuff and the new owners will hardly deviate from the current working state.

generally a company's knowledge is worth more than physical assets. AP have pulled a real smart move here, and they will more likely use IBM staff to improve their own business and methods rather then change the IBM culture.

i see it as a good thing, but i have nothing against chinese ppl. sry guys but your comments seem slightly racist IMO.

steve verrry well put...you should change your name to PHd...cause you always have knowledge to give...

[Steve]

hehe i guess i learned something @ uni afterall, maybe my degree wasn't totally wasted well maybe

[General Nuisance]

Originally posted by Steve

you think of all the thousands of workers will get sacked and all the factories close?

320,000 workers

this still makes me sick IBM owns logitech too and i think they make the worlds best speakers and wireless stuff IBM came out with the first PC in the 1980's for like 15,000 bucks and now you can get a PC thats 500% better for 399 WOW how the times have changed....

R.I.P. Made in USA

[General Nuisance]

STEVE said:
"
sry guys but your comments seem slightly racist IMO.""

-------------------------

i dont have anything against china as long as they mind there own biz. but now there taking OUR JOBS AWAY! they can just buzz off.

im going to put this in my sig,
R.I.P. MADE IN USA

you cant tell me it aint true...
and its only gonna get worse.

[Steve]

320,000 ppl aint gonna loose their jobs - fact.

IBM will still exist, the brand name will still exist, the workers will still exist, seeing as IBM's main business is business solutions and consultation - that too will still exist.

IBM are a multinational company, their systems are made globally already and not just in the US like you think. they already have manufacturing plants in

Dublin, Ireland
Fujisawa, Japan
Essonnes, France
Futian, China
Greenock, Scotland
Pondichery, India
Mainz, Germany
Prachinburi, Thailand
Montpellier, France
Shanghai, China
Singapore
Yasu, Japan

Right but with a little of 1/3 of the of the things sold in the US made by china...and now a a computer company bought by china it would be liek Microsoft being bought by a japan company..a major blow to the economy.

[BADDOG]

I don't think that the contribution I made to this post can be in any way considered "rascist"? Nor do I see anything particularly rascist in any of the other posts on this subject.

The fact is China was world super power thousand of years ago and dominated Asia for many centuries. As one of the worlds most ancient civilisations in was more advanced in the fileds of science, mathematics, astronomy and technology of the time than any other country in the world at that time.

It has been refered to as "the sleeping giant in the East" and this aquisition of the production of IBM computers goes to show how far this nation has risen over the last 20 years or so after the end of Mao's time as it's leader, a time when China was led into a so called "cultural revolution" which set it, it's people and it's economy back many years by comparison with the Western hemisphere.

The trend in many industries now in the Western world is to "out source" it's production and this is true of both production and manufacturing being moved not only to China but also to India and many other nations in Asia. The lower costs in salary's and other over heads is very attractive to many Western companies and as a result this "out sourceing" leads to much greater profits for the companies that do it.

The Chinese government and people would be foolish in the extreme to miss such a golden opportunity for investment and advancement for their country.

We now for better or worse, are part of a global economy and this trend will continue for many years to come, for us in the West it is a double edged sword in as much as we may lose manufacturing jobs but will gain in much lower prices for certain goods.

Regards

[Steve]

^ was not aimed at u dog.

the other posts came across as anti-chinese.

[BADDOG]

Hey no problem bro!!!! Good luck to the Chinese I say mate!!!!


Warmest Regards!!!!

[Dr. Bullet]

I still have an IBM PC Junior. It takes 5 1/2 inch floppies (they're actually floppy) and cartridges

I'd rather prices stay the same and not have Chinese companies own America. It may be that no jobs will be lost, but all the money made has to return home, and home is now China. Myself, I'd rather pay the higher prices and keep my money here. Let's face it: the US is funding China's rise.

Does anyone know of any islands for sale? I'm just gonna move there and let the world go to crap


EDIT: And if don't believe me, look at the US/China Trade deficit http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

Total for this year: -114,307.3 (million $). That is -114,307,300,000, or roughly 114 billion dollars. That's about how much it is every year.