Late last week Lenovo's Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming said during an interview at the World Economic Forum that his company was assessing multiple acquisition targets. One of those targets, we learned, was Research in Motion. The executive was quoted as saying they would have no hesitation if the right opportunity came along that would benefit them and shareholders.
As it turns out, Ming's comments may have been taken out of context as the Chinese PC maker has since issued a statement to downplay the executive's remarks.
In a statement recently delivered to TNW, Lenovo said they were aware that the CFO was speaking broadly about M&A strategy in a recent interview. As it turns out, the journalist conducting the interview initially raised RIM as a potential candidate and that the executive repeatedly answered in a manner consistent with all of their previous statements on M&A strategy.
That strategy, according to the statement, is that Lenovo is very focused on growing its business, both organically and through M&A. When inorganic ideas come to light, they explore them to see if there is a strategic fit.
After reading the statement, one could see how such a quote could be taken out of content, although it likely wasn't an intentional plant by the journalist conducting the interview.
RIM also issued a statement on the matter, solidifying their focus on launching BlackBerry 10 while continuing to examine all available options. At this time, they have nothing new to report concerning their strategic review.