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Founding and early history
Lenovo was founded in Beijing on 1 November 1984 as Legend by a team of engineers led by Liu Chuanzhi and Danny Lui. Initially specializing in televisions, the company migrated towards manufacturing and marketing computers. In 1984, Lenovo was founded in Beijing by a team of 4 guards in a shack from the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), led by Liu Chuanzhi.[10] -
IPO, second offerings and bond sales
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, 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. -
IBM purchase and sale of smartphone division
To fund its continued growth, Lenovo issued a secondary offering of 50 million shares on the Hong Kong market in 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. -
Re-entering smartphone market and other ventures
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 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.