Lenovo Group President and CEO William Amelio resigned Wednesday, after the company posted a US$97 million loss amid a sharp drop in sales during the last quarter of 2008.
Lenovo Chairman Yang Yuanqing will replace Amelio, the company said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
[ Discover the key Mac and Apple tech trends for business users. Read InfoWorld's Enterprise Mac blog and newsletter. ]
Lenovo blamed its financial loss on weak Chinese demand for PCs.
"The Group’s results were impacted principally by slowdown of the Chinese PC market in which it has significant market share; and demand reduction in the worldwide commercial PC segment," the company said in a separate filing.
The company reported a quarterly loss of $97 million on revenue of $3.6 billion. By comparison, Lenovo reported a profit of $173 million on revenue of $4.5 billion in the same time period a year earlier.
Looking ahead, Lenovo said it expects 2009 to be a difficult year.
"The Group expects the next several quarters will remain very challenging for Lenovo and the rest of the PC industry," the filing said.