The Lenovo CEO has made the news recently and not because he is being investigated or for taking money that did not belong to him. In a rare occurrence, the CEO of a major corporation is taking it upon himself to help those who work for him simply because he felt they deserved it. The CEO of Lenovo, Yang Yuanqing, has decided to take $3 million from his bonus and spread it out amongst the 10,000 junior-level employees at the company. The news of the move by Yang was announced by the company on Thursday of last week.
The employees who received the bonus include production-line workers, receptionists and assistants. Each of the employees was given an average of 2,000 yuan as a bonus. That equates to $314 US dollars. Yang was awarded the $3 million boost in his own bonus because the company experienced its best fiscal year, which ended in March. For the fiscal year that ended in March, Yang made $14 million, which includes a $5.2 million bonus. The $3 million handed down to the employees by Yang came from the $5.2 million bonus he received.
According to a press report from the company, Yang said, “The 2011/12 fiscal year was a record-setting year for Lenovo, where we set an all-time high for revenue, shipment, market share and pre-tax income. Our fiscal year ended impressively with strong momentum. Lenovo’s global PC shipments grew by 35% year-over-year, outperforming the industry by ten times, global market share increased by three percentage points, and net profit jumped by 73% year-over year. During the fourth fiscal quarter, Lenovo was the fastest growing among the top PC vendors in Global Emerging Markets, and Commercial Markets, as well as Consumer Markets and Mature Markets, where for the first-time ever, we reached double-digit market share in both. We furthered our leadership position in the Global Emerging Markets, in which Lenovo already achieved double digit-market share in 15 markets and became number one in India. With the emergence of multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets and smart TV, our industry is entering the PC + era. Lenovo is focused on leading the PC industry, and building upon that leadership in the PC+ era.”
The press release also stated that Lenovo achieved the following in the fiscal year that ended in March:
- Record full-year sales of $US29.6 billion
- Record full-year pre-tax income of $US582 million
- Profit attributable to equity holders of $US473 million
- Record full-year market share of 12.9 percent
- Full-year basic EPS of 4.67 US cents , or 36.32 HK cents
- Net cash reserves of $US4.1 billion (as of March 31, 2012)