The man who founded Lenovo and built it into the world’s second-biggest PC maker by sales has retired as chairman, handing over to his chief executive, in a sign of confidence that its recent turnround is on track.
The retirement of Liu Chuanzhi came as Lenovo’s net profit of $144m in the three months to September beat expectations by soaring 88 per cent compared with the same period last year, on strong PC shipments. Sales rose 35 per cent year-on-year to $7.8bn.
Mr Liu, who will be replaced by Yang Yuanqing, said his retirement from Lenovo would give him more time to concentrate on Legend Holdings, the PC maker’s state-controlled parent company that plans a Hong Kong listing after 2014.