Lenovo Is Laying Off 3,200 Staff After A Poor Quarter Of Business

[Recursion]

Source: TechCrunch

Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker and fifth largest smartphone firm, is laying off 3,200 employees as it bids to return to improved financial health following a disappointing last quarter of business.

The Chinese company confirmed in an announcement that the cuts will reduce overall headcount by five percent (or ten percent of its non-manufacturing staff) in a move that should trim its wage bill by an estimated $1.35 billion per year. The news emerged after Lenovo published its results, which saw operating profit sink by more than 50 percent year-on-year to reach $105 million.

Lenovo reported revenue of $10.7 billion, up three percent on the same period last year, but "significant declines" in demand for PCS worldwide, increased competition in China’s smartphone market — which is also, notably, shrinking — and "large currency fluctuations" in Latin America dragged the firm, and its Motorola subsidiary in particular, down.

"Last quarter, we faced perhaps the toughest market environment in recent years," said Lenovo CEO and Chairman Yuanqing Yang in a statement. "To build long term, sustainable growth, we must take proactive and decisive actions in every part of the businesses."

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/12/lenovo-is-laying-off-3200-staff-after-a-poor-quarter-of-business/

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. Oh, you mean like having your LED monitors fail from cheap capacitors after a few years?

[Helen Borg]

2. Still better than expensive Apple equipment...

That has major unfixable flaws Apple is unable to fix. I have a lot of first hand experience with that, unfortunately.

[RoccoR5955]

7. Can you name three?

Or are you just trolling?

[Helen Borg]

15. I can name two

After those, I stopped buying their stuff.

Top of the line aluminum case desktop. "Random" freezes requiring a reboot. Brought it to the Apple geniuses twice. Firs time they could not reproduce the problem. Second time, I stayed there until I was able to get a freeze, by moving the mouse quickly inside a Safari window. Verdict: Software glitch, so not their fault. Problem is there was no software installed, other than what it came with. Machine was never usable in any serious way. Cost: $3500+

Top of the line laptop. 13 months later, row of keys stops working. Keyboard is not modular, and so it would be several hundred dollars to replace the keyboard and a bunch of other pieces that are stuck to it. Currently using it with a wireless keyboard. Cost: $2500+

[WinkyDink]

3. It's the greedy investors demanding more and more profit.

[Recursion]

4. LVNYG doesn't pay a dividend, so the investors shouldn't care

http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/lnvgy/dividend-history

Though personally I've never understood the point of holding a no-div stock.

[candelista]

14. The point of no-dividend stocks is capital gains.

That's why professional investors pick stocks: for market appreciation, not dividends.

[4lbs]

5. It couldn't be because their computers are pieces of crap is it? Nope. Not that.

I've stayed away from Lenovo for years now.

[Recursion]

6. Best laptop keyboards out there, though

It's a shame they put them on such otherwise craptacular hardware.

[fbc]

11. heh, we have three in this house. Keyboards are garbage on two of them.

funny thing is, it's the cheapest model that has the keyboard with no issues.

[RoccoR5955]

8. Lenovo is garbage any way.

When IBM sold their PC division to a Chinese company, I knew that the handwriting was on the wall. Lenovo took an excellent brand, especially the Think Pad models into the sewer! Today's Stink Pads are literally garbage. Low battery life, poor construction, not very durable. But they are cheap, and I guess that is what the Chinese were banking on.
It took a while, but as of today, they are so bad, that it has gotten to the point to where IBM is not even buying them any more.
IBM wants to deploy something on the order of 200,000 Macs per year.
Besides, OSX is far superior to Windoze.

[RiverNoord]

9. You do know that Lenovo has been the manufacturer of all IBM-branded

PCs and laptops for years (since 2005), don't you? In fact, Lenovo actually bought the PC division in 2005. All they have bought now is the IBM x86-x64 server division.

Since 2005 the Lenovo Thinkpad series has been just about the best notebook/laptop PC line in terms of quality and price. There have been a few duds, but as an Apple fan I expect you can recall a few Apple blunders as well (why don't we make 'pucks' for mice?).

[RoccoR5955]

12. I know that.

I know both of those things. My office is about 3 miles from IBM building 1 in Poughkeepsie, NY.
I also have been in IT for about 26 years.
I keep track of this industry as much as I keep track of left leaning politics!

Look at today's ThinkPads, and compare them in quality of workmanship to those before 2005. They have been getting progressively worse. They are more difficult to repair, and more often than they used to be, are defective. We have been buying IBM/Lenovo PCs since the PC-XT days.
Again look at today's computers, especially laptops and tell me who makes a better laptop, Lenovo, or Apple. The body of the MacBook Pro is made of one piece of aluminum, which is machined out to get the spaces needed for the keys and other guts. The battery life of the MBP is much better than that of the TP. And if you even look at the keyboard, Lenovo, as well as other manufacturers have copied Apple's design, and not have chicklet keyboards on their laptops.
I'm sorry, but everyone has flaws. It just appears to me that Lenovo has been on a decline since they became independent of IBM.

And their servers are gonna suck in a few years too, as soon as the Chinese figure out how to make them for less.

You cannot win this argument with me, sorry.

[RiverNoord]

10. Oh, and Apple is basically a Chinese company as well.

Virtually everything Apple markets is made from Chinese/Taiwanese parts and fully assembled in China.

[RoccoR5955]

13. ALL your PCs are made

with Chinese/Taiwanese parts, and assembled in Asia.
Can you tell me a brand that is not?

Lenovo is a wholly owned Chinese company. Apple, at least designs their computers in the US, and has started making their new Mac Pros in Texas and Arizona. At least they are doing more than Lenovo is!
Here's an old link that states that Apple was planning to build these factories: http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-to-build-made-in-the-usa-manufacturing-plant-in-arizona/
Since the article, it has already been opened and is in full production.

[Xithras]

16. Lenovo is like Dell. Quality is directly dependent on what you spend.

The cheap, low end computers they sell are absolute crap that fall apart quickly. Their higher end lines are well built and reliable, and work for many years without having any problems whatsoever. IBM held Lenovo's feet to the fire for years to maintain quality, so the company does have the skillset and ability to build high quality computers for those willing to pay for them.

Dell Inspiron = Crap.
Dell Precision = Some of the best computers you can buy.

Lenovo C & H Series = Cheap crap better suited for doorstops.
Lenovo A & K Series = Excellent machines that have consistently tied even Apple in customer satisfaction ratings for years, and soundly thumped their PC competitors.

It all depends on what you buy, and what you're willing to pay.

[RoccoR5955]

17. Well if you ask me.

The same is true of Toshiba laptops. The more you spend, the better you get. However most people do not want to spend a lot of money on a laptop, and some don't have the money to spend on a suitable quality laptop.
Back in the day, the original ThinkPad was still a good machine, no matter what the price range. True, if you spent more, you got better, but even the low end ones were much better than the low end ones today.

Then again, the quality in the entire Windows PC market has been falling for many years now.
When I buy a Windows box, I buy my own components, and build my own, for much less than I would spend on ANY brand name. The problem is with laptops. I cannot build a laptop.

[Xithras]

18. Most people just don't want to mess with them.

I've been working with computers for nearly 30 years now, and I used to be a dedicated homebuilder. Between the early 90's and the early 2000's, I used to build myself a completely new computer at least once a year. Between the cost savings and the ability to build exactly what I wanted, it was the way to go.

Nowadays I look at DIY computers the same way I look at my car. Sure, I've rebuilt car engines and COULD replace a water pump on my own if it gets noisy, or change my own oil when it's needed, and I'd save a lot of money doing it, but I've got WAY better things to do with my time. Instead, I'll throw some money at the mechanic and let him deal with it while I'm doing something more useful.

When I need a computer now, I check the reliability ratings, buy from a reputable line, and get it delivered in a box. Other than a wipe and reload to clear the adware, I don't have to do a thing to it. When one of my fans started getting noisy a couple of months ago, I called the 800 number and reported it. A tech came out and fixed it the next day. For me, not having to touch a screwdriver was worth the $30 fee.