What was considered either a stroke of genius or the dumbest thing yet from HP seems to have settled. At the end of August the former VP Leo Apotheker wanted to get rid of the PC PC division, which finally cost him his job, and the new VP has reversed the decision.
According to Wall Street Journal the document has passed HP’s board and new VP Meg Whitman that says selling the PC division is not a good idea. According to an internal investigation the HP PC division made up 29% of the company profit last quarter. In total the PC division moved aorund 40.1 billion dollar, whereof 2 billion dollar was profit for the company.
But you can’t just stare at these numbers, but it goes further. Selling or breaking off the PC PC division woudl drastically weaken HP. As the world’s leading seller of PCs, as well as servers, it can buy components at much larger quantities at lower prices and per less per components. It would also affect margins on servers and workstations that HP is trying so hard to grow in.
The problem could be in the inner circle, and not the VP.
The question is really why the board agreed to Leo Apotheker’s plan to transform HP, to the next IBM. The acquisition of Autonomy for 10.2 billion dollar was questioned, since HP no longer needs it as much without Leo Apotheker’s vision. After moving through periods with different VPs analysts are starting point to the board instead, and not the persons appointed VP. Rumors are going around the stock market, investers and stock holders are trying to get board members replaced.
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