IBM launched the personal computer revolution in the early 1980s, but by the early 1990s, Big Blue was losing market share and at risk of being irrelevant. In 1993, it announced losses of $8 billion. IBM had a bloated workforce. The technologies the company had heavily invested in were gradually becoming obsolete. The recession was still taking its toll on customers and consequently IBM's bottom line. Also, mainframe computing, the mainstay of IBM's business, was being supplanted by desktops. IBM's loss was the biggest corporate loss in history up to that point.But that year also saw the arrival of Lou Gerstner as CEO. Under the leadership of Lou Gerstner, IBM shed businesses that had pushed it away from its core competencies, and jettisoned redundant infrastructure. . He focused the company on mainframe corporate clients, slashed jobs and killed off plans to spin off IBM business units into separate companies. IBM set its sights on three areas: hardware, a business-software line, and lucrative IT services. The ability to see a path, take decisive action, and simplify the organization helped stave off the worst.Since then, the company has continuously been reinventing itself by exiting those products which had become more like commodities, and focusing on higher-value, more profitable markets. It sold off its personal computer and server businesses to Lenovo. It still designs semiconductors, but no longer manufactures them. In the meanwhile, it has many other companies that it feels add to its new focus.