New York: International Business Machines Corp said that US regulators had approved the $2.3bn sale of its low-end server business to Lenovo Group Ltd, as the company continues its shift to more profitable software and services like cloud computing and data analytics.
IBM has already divested $16bn in annual revenue over the past decade from low-margin businesses like personal computers and printers.
The approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States came despite CIFUS members’ concern, first reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, that IBM servers used in the Pentagon’s networks could be accessed remotely by Chinese spies and compromised.
Lenovo has been through the secretive CFIUS process three times before and has won approval each time.
CFIUS, an interagency group chaired by the Treasury Secretary, reviews deals that could bring US businesses under foreign ownership and is required by law to assess any transaction involving a state-owned firm.
Reuters
