HP to keep its PC business
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The cost of spinning off its Personal Systems Group would outweigh the benefits, HP has announced, but future of webOS still uncertain
Hewlett-Packed will not be spinning out its PC division, the company's new CEO Meg Whitman said yesterday, contrary to suggestions by Whiman's predecessor Leo Apotheker.
In a statement, Whitman said that HP is "committed" to its $40 billion Personal Systems Group. "HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off" the PC business, she said. The decision to retain PSG is "right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees".
The company explained the process of evaluating the viability of its PC business. "The data-driven evaluation revealed the depth of the integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. It also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP’s solutions portfolio and overall brand value," the statement said. "Finally, it also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation."
In a conference call with investment analysts, Whitman confirmed that HP will be continue to make tablets, and is planning to release devices based on Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system. However, the future of the webOS operating system remains uncertain.
Paul Hunter, head of HP's UK and Ireland PC division, called the discussion the keep the business inside HP "a welcome one". Hunter added that had undergone a "robust…public audit", and that the UK business was committed to improvement. "We will get closer to all of our customers; whether that’s deepening the support for our channel partners, providing more consultancy and advice for our enterprise customers or delivering improved customer service and after-sales support for our consumers," Hunter said.
In other HP hardware news, it was reported this week that the company plans to partner with a chipmaking start-up called Calxeda to develop servers that use processors based on ARM Holdings' chip designs.
