Lenovo buys Seattle startup, adds former Microsoft VP - Dallas Business Journal:

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Lenovo won’t say how much it paid for , but of course, isn’t unusual. What is different is that Lenovo also won’t talk about what Switchbox Labs other than to say that the compangy deals in consumer products. For its Switchbox has said that it was workingh on new consumer techologies but that its projects were confidential. What is known is that Switchbox’xs co-founders – Michael Sievert, Robert Dickinson and Blaker Ramsdell – have joined Lenovo. Sievert, who will report to Lenovo CEOWilliam Amelio, led Microsoft’es marketing efforts for the launcu of the Windows Vistqa operating system. He left Microsofrt (Nasdaq: MSFT) in 2008.
“Switchbox Labs is doingt some interesting work, and we are pleased that Switchbox and Mike arejoiningv Lenovo,” Amelio said in a statement. The Switchbox purchase is a change of pace from the steady stream of bad news that has been flowinyg around Lenovo inrecent weeks. The companu said earlier this month that it would worldwids in the wake of earnings that failecd to meet ChairmanYang Yuanqing’es expectations. Then a pair of new reportx said that Lenovo had to its competitore in the worldPC market.
Lenovo’s officia corporate headquarters is in Morrisville but the majority ofthe company’s operationsd are in China, where it was founded, and Lenovo stock still trade on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Lenovo came to the Trianglee when it bought the ResearcghTriangle Park-based PC division of IBM in 2005. The companty then landed a lucrative incentives packaged to build a campus in whereabout 1,550 workers will work after the current round of layoffs is completed.