Translated by Zuo Maohong
Original article: [Chinese]

Lenovo, China's IT giant, announced today it would cut 2,500 jobs in the first quarter of 2009 and merge its Greater China operations with its Russia and Asia-Pacific operations.

The announcement was posted on the Hong Kong Exchange website early this morning.

The 2,500 jobs to be cut, including managers and senior managers, accounted for about 11 percent of Lenovo's global workforce. The annoucement didn't say which of its divisons the cuts would fall in.

The company said it expected the restructuring would save some 300 million US dollars in the 2009-2010 fiscal year ending on March 31, 2010.

It estimated a pre-tax restructuring charge of 150 million US dollars for the 2008-2009 financial year, which would largely be reflected in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. Around 24 million dollars would be reflected in the second fiscal quarter.

Chen Shaopeng, Lenovo's president for the Greater China and Russia business, was appointed head of the new Asia-Pacific and Russia division. The merge would eliminate overlapping support and administrative functions, the company said.

David Miller, the company's senior vice president and president of its Asia-Pacific operations, would remain in office for a period to help with transitional work.

Lenovo's vice president Xia Li would be in charge of the Greater China business. Xia took over the company's sales work last year from Lan Ye, who was now president of Founder Technology, another major IT firm in China.

Wei Jianglei, who was in charge of the company's non-computer products in Greater China and acting chief of the Russia operations, was appointed new head of the Russia business.

Lenovo was listed in the Hong Kong Exchange in 1994. It purchased IBM's personal computer business in 2005, and since then has grown to the world's fourth largest maker of personal computers.