“Lenovo is my life,” said Liu in an interview with Sina.com on the same day. He added he would take the reins whenever needed.

Lenovo’s fourth-quarter sales figures from 2008 were as gloomy as the market expected. PC sales were down by 5 percent year on year, sales revenue slid 20 percent, and Lenovo’s global market share was reduced from 7.5 percent to 7.3 percent.

Rumors about a management reshuffle have been circulated for months. In December 2008, Lenovo released a statement saying Yang would stay, but it didn’t mention whether Liu would come back to control Lenovo again.

In the first two months of 2009, Lenovo initiated a massive restructuring, trimming jobs around the world. It combined its Asia-Pacific division with its China division, cut 2,500 jobs – 11 percent of its total staff – and reduced compensation packages for its officials. These measures could save the company as much US$ 300 million, says trade analysts.

Liu, 65, founded Lenovo in the early 1990s and served as the company’s chairman from 1994 to 2004. After the his company inked its famous deal with IBM acquiring the U.S. company’s PC division, Liu resigned from the chairman position to be succeeded by Yang.

Born in 1964, Yang joined Lenovo in 1989. He became the company’s president and CEO in 2001 before his promotion to the chairman post.

Amelio was the vice president of Dell before he came to Lenovo in 2005.