...which is what everybody said at the beginning. There's nothing here, Eagle. Go find some different FUD. |
Posted on 03/09/2005 10:42:31 AM PST by ShadowAce
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group Ltd. (0992) won clearance from a U.S. national security oversight committee to acquire IBM's (IBM) personal computer business, the companies said on Wednesday, overcoming resistance from some U.S. lawmakers
An IBM executive said the high-level U.S. committee had given the deal its unanimous consent -- the final external approval needed -- putting the $1.25 billion PC sale on track to close in the second quarter as originally planned.
"We were able to get unanimous agreement from the members of the committee," Stephen Ward, the general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Division, said in a telephone interview.
Ward is to become chief executive of Lenovo, once the deal closes. Lenovo is headquartered in Beijing, but will move to an undisclosed site near IBM's headquarters in Armonk, New York.
The merger of the IBM PC business with China's biggest PC maker -- the first combination ever of a major U.S. company and a top Chinese one -- will create the world's third largest PC maker with roughly $12 billion in revenue and one strongly positioned in several fast-growing markets.
The deal had met unexpected resistance when some U.S. lawmakers began decrying the loss of a U.S.-based PC maker to China. In addition, some government officials, according to media reports, were concerned that Chinese nationals working for Lenovo in the United States might act as industrial spies.
Despite the review, approval of the deal had been widely anticipated on Wall Street. IBM shares rose 42 cents to $92.55 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ward said terms of the approval are confidential, but that no compromises were required over the location of Lenovo facilities in sensitive research areas, nor were limits put on Lenovo's ability to sell PCs to U.S. agencies.
"I don't think we made any compromises at all," Ward told Reuters.
Rival PC makers such as Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) have been seeking to woo corporate PC customers away from IBM by citing the regulatory overhang as well as uncertainty over Lenovo's future PC product strategy.
Industry experts say that underlying the cross-border combination of the two companies is a belated recognition of the fact that most PCs -- including IBM's machines -- are already largely manufactured in the greater China region.
IBM plans to keep a 19 percent stake in Lenovo after the merger, allow Lenovo to use its PC brands for five years, and retain service, financing and support operations for PCs.
FINAL REGULATORY STEP
The go-ahead from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was received on Tuesday, Ward said.
CFIUS, which is composed of 11 U.S. agencies and was created in 1998 to conduct security reviews of business deals, includes members of the U.S. departments of Treasury, State, Defense, Justice and Homeland Security.
"Everything that CFIUS asked of us was perfectly reasonable and the type of things that would be in a business plan," Ward said.
He said IBM PC staff working in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, area will be relocated to a single campus that is being sold by IBM to Lenovo and is located in the same industrial park. Separation from the rest of IBM is in line with plans to run Lenovo as a distinct company, Ward said.
Asked if IBM could retain U.S. military and other national security agencies as PC customers, Ward said there were no restrictions on the new Lenovo and it would be free to do business with U.S. government agencies. "We can do business with anyone we want to do business with," he said.
U.S. antitrust authorities in January cleared the deal, and Lenovo shareholders have also approved it.
What is left is largely internal planning and integrating steps to complete the merger.
"We are still looking at closing the transaction in the second quarter," IBM spokeswoman Carol Makovich said. "We are on track."
Lenovo / IBM Ping!
Admin,
If you think that my post is a duplicate of the CNet post, please pull mine.
Thanks!
Disgusting sellout to the Chicoms by IBM. Previous thoughts here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1349045/posts
I agree with you on this point. While IBM was losing money with this division, selling it to the Chinese is a mistake.
IBM wasn't losing money anymore, the booming PC business was recently bringing them a profit.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1349045/posts?page=11#11
But they still wanted to partner with the Chicom government so bad, they sold them a $10 billion dollar/year business for under $2 billion total.
They should at least make them strip the IBM name off those systems, so unsuspecting buyers have a chance to know the profits are going to the Chinese government now.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=apcdMaiF7K20
Congress members will probably receive a briefing from the U.S. Treasury Department within a week, said Rich Carter, a spokesman for Representative Don Manzullo, a Republican from Illinois.
``My boss has economic concerns about IBM selling its personal computing division to a company owned by the Chinese government,'' Carter said. ``Based on the fact that China doesn't always play by the rules, such as manipulating its currency and subsidizing companies, it could give Lenovo an unfair advantage.''
Lenovo is controlled by Legend Group, which was established in 1984 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a government institution.
...which is what everybody said at the beginning. There's nothing here, Eagle. Go find some different FUD. |
PC's labled "IBM" = Chinese Government Product
Do something worthwhile for once, and get the word out.
Maybe it's IBM's Secret Plan to get their stuff on the shelves at Wal*Mart.
Amazing how far they have fallen. From the standard of engineering excellence, to chinese junk.
Who the hell is running this country? Doesn't anyone else see a problem with this?
Yeah--it's why I posted it.
If you are against this sale then you are far too intelligent to be working in government. This borders on treason.
" Amazing how far they have fallen. From the standard of engineering excellence, to chinese junk."
There was never any doubt in my mind that this would go through. Too much money flying around to stop it. I just recieved an email from the company telling me how my division didn't meet it's goals this year even though we made billions for them. Subsequently we won't be getting any performance bonus although the CEO somehow managed to meet his requirements to get an 8 million dollar raise.
Thanks, I can only imagine your frustration working for them, when I'm seething only as a customer of theirs. Former customer, at this point.
Amazing the CEO is getting such rewards. These two scathing pieces on Forbes recently had little good to say.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/02/24/cz_dl_ibm.html
http://www.forbes.com/enterprisetech/2005/02/24/cz_dl_0224ibmsidebar.html
This issue presents itself when the application handles a malformed CSS file.
A typical attack would involve the attacker creating a Web site that includes the malicious CSS file. The attacker may then entice a vulnerable user to visit the site. If successful, this attack may result in granting the attacker unauthorized access to the affected computer in the context of the user running Internet Explorer.
LOL, anything but have to deal with these.
http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2001/03/01/p16s1.htm
http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/export/news/980731-doj.htm
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,119476,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
http://www.truthinmedia.org/truthinmedia/Bulletins/tim98-1-5.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/law/050302/ac2fb10a4fd26a6eeeaa97d682ca0c71_1.html
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
Hey, you got what you wanted. The oversight committee looked over the deal. No more FUD for you, sorry.