HP To Stay in the PC Business

by Andrew Cunningham on October 27, 2011 5:15 PM EST
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  • HP

Backtracking on the company's August decision to consider selling or spinning off its PC business, new HP CEO Meg Whitman today announced that the company would be holding on to its Personal Systems Group for the time being.

This decision was reached after conducting "strategic review" of the group and the impact its sale or spin-off would have on the company's business, which found that the PSG contributed significantly to HP's portfolio and brand, and that the cost of setting the group up as its own company would outweigh the benefits.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for the world's biggest PC maker, but nevertheless, the announcement that HP was considering the sale of its PC group ruffled quite a few feathers, and may have damaged the brand's mindshare: an anonymous source told the New York Times last month that "business customers who buy tens of thousands of these machines along with support contracts are shutting [HP] out. Dell and Lenovo are all over these accounts. They’re having a field day."

Source: Business Wire

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  • The Saint - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link

    Apotheker's announcement that HP was planning to jettison its PC business accomplished absolutely nothing, and had absolutely no reason to be made public even if HP was shopping for buyers of its PC division.

    Under him, HP's value fell to almost half of its previous valuation as it made inexplicable decision after inexplicable decision.

    His penalty for his gross incompetence?

    A cool $25 million dollar golden parachute.
    http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/219001/20110923/he...
  • piroroadkill - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link

    That's right. Make a POSSIBLE decision known early, slash the largest PC manufacturer's share price, get fired in less than a year, and walk home with more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime.

    It's a different world when you can convince people you're worth it, even if you're shit. Lucky bastards.
  • themossie - Thursday, October 27, 2011 - link

    Please excuse me while I convulse with laughter.

    Glad they reversed Apotheker's bizarre idea. If HP wants to increase business services, they should try to become a one-stop-shop for all business computing needs, providing hardware, software, printing, networking and mobile devices (the latter off the table for now, although I'm sure we'll see something from them for mobile - possibly an Android software suite)

    Can Meg Whitman bring HP back to glory? I sincerely hope so, but don't see it unless there are major changes on the HP board of directors. HP has a long way to go to recover its disastrous fall in market cap under Leo, and still has no clear strategic direction.
  • ananduser - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link

    Most of us could care less about HP's enterprise endeavors. The PC company's products are the ones mainly reviewed here.
    A spin-off would've been more nimble by its own rather than stay within the bloated corporate structure.
  • shorty lickens - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link

    I need to get mommy a new system for Xmas. Was probably going with HP and in-home service plan.
  • Bonesdad - Friday, October 28, 2011 - link

    I already gave your mommy something good for Xmas....
  • Valis - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link

    HP's G-series and others are among the best/price for laptops, along with Lenovo, ASUS, Toshiba, etc. I'm happy to see that they are going to remain in the market. :)
  • METALMORPHASIS - Saturday, October 29, 2011 - link

    The more competition the better. Im geting sick of building PC's anyways.

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