In continuation of its decision to quit the under-performing PC business in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East in February 2009, Japanese NEC recently announced that it will also put an end to the production and sales of PCs in the Asia-Pacific region around July 2009, Reuters reported on March 30. Should this plan be completed, NEC will sell PCs only in Japan, where the company has a leading share. Of a total of three million PCs sold by NEC in 2008, 2.5 million PCs were sold in Japan. In a bid to weather the global downturn, NEC has taken several countermeasures, including closing down plants, exiting money-losing businesses, and cutting jobs worldwide.