“HP is still considering spinning out or selling its PC business after the forced exit of Leo Apotheker, new CEO Meg Whitman said,” Electronista reports.
“During a conference call to explain the move, she said the company was still evaluating what it would do with the Personal Systems Group and would have a decision back by the promised end-of-year time frame, ‘if not sooner,'” Electronista reports. “She was still supportive of HP’s decision that day, including to drop webOS hardware and to buy Autonomy for $10 billion, but she also promised a review.”
Electronista reports, “The word of continued plans to distance itself from PCs and webOS hardware isn’t likely to change doubts lingering over their fate. Whitman acknowledged this but said the solution was to get to a decision on the Personal Systems Group as quickly as possible, not to necessarily reverse the choice. She didn’t say whether any such speed would come with webOS hardware, although over 500 job cuts may make the departure difficult to reverse.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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What a mess. HP lays off the 500+ employees working on the Palm stuff, and THEN the new CEO says they are “still considering” what to do about the Palm stuff.
A year from now, there will be another new HP CEO, and HP try to buy RIM.
Agreed, HP is a mess of mass confusion and distrust with all the board members.
Talk about a company that is tearing itself apart in all directions.
And the stock is dropping, it shows people can’t get away from them fast enough.
Anyone want a vintage calculator from the once great HP, looks like they have memories and that’s all.
if they go out of business i wonder if the company they spun off (instrumentation) can get the hp name back, since they are the carriers of the real hp tradition.
“Here comes the new boss- same as the old boss.”- Pete Townsend
What a parade of disaster. There was Carly. Then they ditch Hurd, who was improving H-P results, over something even his “victim” said was no big deal. Then Apotheker. And now Whitman.
When Meg inevitably crashes, Carol Bartz is available.
Your invocation of this quote is very apt but the actual lyrics are “Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss.”
Apple may well end up being the last brand-name PC maker in existence. Who’da thunk it, even five years ago.
“Apple may well end up being the last brand-name PC maker in existence…”
Wow – that’s a pretty sobering thought.
Real shame about HP & subjecting themselves to Whitman – how the mighty have fallen.
Unlikely. Acer, a China based company, produces a lot of PC hardware and I don’t see them going out of business anytime soon. Same goes for Lenovo who purchased IBM’s PC division years ago. Aside from Apple and HP, Dell is the only other American-based company still making PCs. There are also other variables like Sony too.
Maybe HP will merge with Quaker Oats and she can serve as spokesperson for both.
Best. Comment. Ever.
If she’s going to do the same thing, why’d they bother firing Leo??
Thank you… That was my first thought when I heard this earlier… The only thing I can come up with is the board agreed with his decisions but knew they would be questioned. So they let him make these moves then they fire him and hope the blame goes with him.
Think you have grasped modern commerce perfectly there style over substance. ironically it was these sort of people that accused Apple of that which only goes to show how little they grasped the concept even as they played with it.
HP’s troubles started long ago when they spun off their heritage foundation as Agilent. It would sort of be like Apple divesting Macintosh because iOS is the future. That bad decision, in my opinion, has directly lead to all of HP’s current problems, regardless of who is the CEO. They forgot where they came from and, even worse, do not know where they came from and why.
You pay with peanuts you get Monkeys. HP has managed to lower its standards consistently over the past 5 years. This one is the icing on the devalued cake.
Why is it that the least capable people are always the ones who end up in the positions of power?
Success starts at the top and usually with the board of directors, if that group fails you can’t get rid of them and if they are incompetent they will surround themselves by like minded people.
My wife worked for a non profit school, the board was totally incompetent and continuously made one bad decision after another until they went bankrupt.
Yes all those years of criticism of Apple’s strategy and I very much expect that down the line they will indeed be the only Western/American owned brand computer maker. As has been shown elsewhere only those specialising in quality up market products can resist the eastern onslaught. Dell hasn’t a chance of surviving long term and this mess shows that HP are ill equipped to do so either.
Facepalm.
So many CEOs in such a short time says it’s the Board who is the problem. Any funds have the appetite for an intervention?
With WebOS, HP has the tools ( talent, and OS) it needs to success if its done properly. However, with the constant shakeup @ HP, it does not provide any confident in the hearts & minds of investors, developers, and customers.
If I am a HP employee, I will be even more worry. It’s time for them to brush up their resume.