Lenovo Group said Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang is to join its board as
an observer, as the world's No. 2 maker of PCs expands its mobile
business to tap global demand for smartphones and tablets.
Yang, who
co-founded Yahoo! in April 1995 and served as chief executive from June
2007 to January 2009, will not be able to vote or have any of the other
rights of a director, Lenovo said on Wednesday.
The Hong
Kong-listed company will pay Yang $61,875 per year and offer equity
rights with a value of $135,000 in return for attending board meetings
and providing views.
Yang, 44, resigned from Yahoo's board last
year when he also stepped down from the boards of Alibaba Group Holding
and Yahoo! Japan.
Lenovo, the second-biggest smartphone vendor in China, is stepping up its expansion in the business.
In
its October-to-December third quarter, Lenovo shipped 9.4 million
phones, including 9 million smartphones, mainly in China where its
smartphone business was profitable for the first time.
© Thomson Reuters 2013