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Ex-Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci joins Lenovo as a consultant

We haven't heard much from outspoken former Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci since he left the company back in March of this year, but it looks like he's now ready to get back into the PC business in a slightly different role. Lenovo confirmed today that Lanci is joining the company as a consultant to "help develop and accelerate Lenovo's worldwide consumer business." Initially, those efforts will be mostly focused on Lenovo's integration of German PC manufacturer Medion, which it acquired in June for $907 million, but it sounds like this is more than just a short-term gig -- he does get to stay in Italy, though. Head on past the break for Lenovo's complete statement.

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Lenovo today confirmed that Gianfranco Lanci, former CEO of Acer, is joining the company as a consultant to help develop and accelerate Lenovo's worldwide consumer business. He will have a particular focus on Lenovo's integration of Medion, a leading German technology company acquired in July by Lenovo to significantly enhance its consumer presence, channels and capabilities in Western Europe.

Mr. Lanci will work closely with Yuanqing Yang, Lenovo CEO, and the rest of Lenovo's senior leadership team. He will be based in Italy.

Mr. Lanci is bringing his expertise to the world's third largest PC maker during a period of rapid growth and sustained success. Lenovo has been the fastest growing major PC manufacturer for seven straight quarters. The company recently announced its first quarter earnings, including record global market share (12.2%), record quarterly unit sales (more than 10 million units) and gains in virtually every region and product segment, while almost doubling profits year-to-year.

The following statement is attributable to Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang:
"Lenovo is fully committed to the PC industry. We are very optimistic about its future, while making significant long-term investments in the mobile internet. Because of this, exceptional people like Gianfranco are joining Lenovo. We have the right strategy, innovative products, strong culture, and a talented team. These key elements of our core competitiveness will help us to continue winning. Therefore, Lenovo is the best working place for talented people."

"As a consultant to us, Gianfranco brings years of expertise and insights to Lenovo that will help us strengthen our growing global consumer business. Talented people are joining Lenovo because of our commitment to the PC industry, outstanding momentum and optimism about the future. We will continue to strengthen our company by building the best global team in the industry."

Lenovo's Momentum
By advancing the right strategy of balanced, profitable growth and strong execution, Lenovo has outperformed the industry in all geographies, customer segments and product segments on its journey toward becoming one of the leading personal technology companies in the world


· Roughly doubled net profit YTY in Q1 ($108m)
· Fastest growing of top 5: 7 straight quarters (8X market in Q1)
· Outgrowing market: 9 straight quarters
· Grew 8X market (23.1% to 2.7%)
· Record units in Q1 of over 10 million
· #3 WW share in PCs; Record share of 12.2%
· Record share in both Mature and Emerging
· Number 1 in global relationship NB (Large enterprise/public sector)
· Number 2 in global commercial NB
· Number 1 in China and growing: Extended lead vs. competitors as China overtook U.S. for 1st time as world's largest PC market.
· Number 1 in global Emerging markets: Grew 3x the market rate (46.5% v. 14.7% to reach record 16.6%).
· Number 2 in WW all-in-one PCs

ABOUT LENOVO
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$21 billion personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries, and the world's third-largest PC vendor. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo's business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group's acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo, a global Fortune 500 company, has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

LANCI BIOGRAPHY
Background
After Gianfranco Lanci was appointed President of Acer Inc. in 2005, he was promoted in 2008 to the position of Chief Executive Officer and President.
Gianfranco Lanci joined Acer Italy as Managing Director in 1997 right after Acer acquired the Texas Instruments (or TI) notebook division. When he became President for Acer Europe in 2000, he started building a strong European organization. As President of Acer EMEA in 2002, he introduced an innovative channel business model that successfully established record-making profits across Europe, Middle East, and the African markets. Lanci was then nominated as President of Acer Inc. International Operation Business Group or OBG in 2003. His responsibilities included overseeing all of Acer's business by coordinating sales and marketing activities in the Middle East, Europe, and America markets.

Gianfranco Lanci's Personal and Educational Background
Gianfranco Lanci was born in Turin, Italy in 1954. He graduated from the Politecnico of Turin where he also earned his degree in civil engineering. He worked for Texas Instrumentals Italia in 1981. He was also a country manager for the Printers Division, or PDD, and The Portable computers in Italy, Africa, and the Middle East. In 1996, he was appointed President for TI's Productivity Products Division of EMEA. Gianfranco Lanci became the Managing Director of Acer Italy when TI's portable PC business merged with Acer in 1997.