Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Though once a mainstay of the IBM-compatible clone world, vendor Packard Bell fell off the map when the company merged with NEC in the late ’90s, amid complaints relating to the shoddy quality of the company’s products. While the Packard Bell name completely disappeared in the U.S. in 2000, the brand has remained strong in Europe, where Packard Bell is currently the third largest seller of PCs to consumers. Looking to expand its marketshare in Europe, Chinese PC vendor Lenovo has confirmed that it is engaged in talks to acquire the Packard Bell brand. Lenovo is currently the third largest PC vendor in the world (with 8.3 percent marketshare, as of Q2) and a buyout of Packard Bell could bring the company one step closer to that coveted number 2 spot on the list.

For more on the impending buyout:
– see this Ars Technica article