IBM's PC unit lost money from 2001 onwards

IBM's PC business racked up $965 million in losses between Jan. 1, 2001, and June 30, 2004, the company said last week in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, detailing the planned sale of the business to China's Lenovo Group.

Although the merger of IBM's PC business into Lenovo is expected to create the world's third-largest maker of PCs, the regulatory filing shows that IBM had a history of recurring losses in the PC unit despite outsourcing a huge chunk of the manufacturing to third parties.

In the filing, IBM disclosed a computer-division loss of $397 million in 2001, $171 million in 2002 and $258 million in 2003. In the first half of 2004, the loss was $139 million.

IBM hadn't broken out the PC division's results in recent years, preferring to include the figures in larger business segments.

Last month, IBM, in Armonk, N.Y., agreed to sell its PC business to Lenovo, in Beijing, for $1.25 billion. IBM helped pioneer the PC industry in 1981.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.