Just over a month after Hewlett-Packard said it would sell or spin-off its PC business, new CEO Meg Whitman on Thursday said the company will decide on a proposal to spin-off the PC unit by the end of the year.
Under former CEO Leo Apotheker (pictured), HP in mid-August said it would explore the sale or spin-off of the Personal Systems Group (PSG) unit, which deals in PCs, smartphones and tablets. News agency Bloomberg earlier reported that HP was reconsidering a proposal to spin-off the PC unit, citing a source familiar with the company’s plans.
Speaking on a conference call Thursday, Whitman said that a decision on the group’s future would come sometime in the next three months. "With regard to the potential spin off of PSG, we’re committed to doing the work right now to determine the best path forward and we expect the board to make a determination by the end of the calendar year if not sooner. This decision is solely based on the value to investors and value to customers," Whitman said.
Whitman was appointed as HP’s CEO on Thursday after the company board identified weaknesses in former Apotheker’s leadership and felt the need to bring in new leader, said Ray Lane, executive chairman at HP on the conference call.
With razor-thin margins and slowing sales, the PC unit has become a drag as HP moves to emphasise more profitable business areas such as enterprise software, services and hardware. HP in mid-August also said it would kill webOS smartphones and tablets, and a buying frenzy ensued after HP started selling its TouchPad tablets at $99 to clear out inventory.
However, PSG’s webOS software and hardware business could still be toast. Apotheker inherited the webOS business after HP bought Palm last year when Mark Hurd was CEO. HP killed the tablets and smartphones, but said it would retain webOS software and license it to third parties – though there is no evidence of this taking place so far.
IDG News Service
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