Lenovo Mobile even changed its executives. Revolution or internal friction? Former employees lamented that even the culture is gone.

Yesterday, Qiao Jian, the recently appointed senior vice president of Lenovo Group and co-president of Lenovo Mobile, announced through an internal letter that Gary Yu, general manager of Zhejiang Mobile Terminal Company, will be appointed vice president of Lenovo Group, fully responsible for the sales management of MBG (Lenovo Mobile Business Group) China business. This is the third senior executive of Lenovo's mobile phone division to be "replaced" within three months. Together with the three newly appointed senior vice presidents at the group level, the intensity and speed of Lenovo Group's major reshuffle are astonishing.

Lenovo mobile phones return to operator channels?

Last week, Lenovo Group released its third-quarter financial report. Lenovo's mobile phone business suffered an operating loss of US$112 million, while revenue fell 23% to US$2.2 billion. Global smartphone shipments plunged 26%, while its market share fell 3.5%, and the downturn continued.

"It's useless to change anyone at this time," Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the Mobile Phone Alliance, told Nandu reporters. In fact, Lenovo should give Chen Xudong (former co-president of Lenovo MBG) more time. "After all, the gap between brand and channel is too big, and it can't be made up in a day or two." In fact, many media interviewed Chen Xudong last year and wanted to ask him about his sales forecast, but he remained silent and said, "We hope to rebound in two years, but now is not the right time." - Unfortunately, Lenovo couldn't wait for him for two years.

"Yu Gao is from an operator, Lenovo recruited him to return to the operator channel, after all, the investment cost is relatively low." Wang Yanhui said. But this is contrary to Lenovo's overall strategy last year. Yang Yuanqing once said in an interview with a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily that Lenovo's future mobile phone channel strategy will focus on the open market and e-commerce, "The success of the operator channel in the past has made us complacent."

“Venture capital has become a place for retirement”

According to Lenovo officials, Wang Feng will work for Lenovo Capital and Incubator after his resignation. In November last year, Dr. Rui Yong of Microsoft Research Asia became Lenovo's new CTO, while former CTO He Zhiqiang will focus on his work as president of Lenovo Capital and Incubator.

"To put it bluntly, Wang Feng and Lao He (president of Lenovo Capital and Incubator) are just going to retire. Hony Capital and Lenovo Star are actually part of Lenovo Holdings, and Lenovo Capital and Incubator have basically not taken any substantive action," said the former employee. Lenovo Capital and Incubator have been promoting the "Xiao Qiang Entrepreneurship" internal entrepreneurship project, encouraging employees to develop new projects and obtain financing through venture capital for independent development. "This is contrary to Lenovo's second rule of thumb, 'You cannot serve as a senior executive in any company other than Lenovo.'"

"Lenovo is a company with cultural heritage. It would be even more difficult if it lost its culture," he sighed helplessly.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.