HP planning to split in two
HP is reportedly planning to split its PC and printer arm from its corporate hardware and services one.
The move, according to the Wall Street Journal, would be a bid to improve the ailing computer giant’s recent fortunes.
It’s claimed that HP will announce the move some time today. The split itself would occur next year, and would be done through a tax-free distribution of shares to stockholders.
If indeed this split does go ahead, it would create two separate companies generating $50 billion of annual revenue each. The report claims that HP sees more sales potential in its corporate operations than in its consumer PC business, which would make a split advantageous for the former.
Another suggestion made by the WSJ is that the separate corporate arm of HP could potentially merge with data storage giant EMC at some point down the road. HP as a whole has been in talks with the company over a merger for much of the past year, it’s claimed.
As for the consumer portion of HP, the company recently announced a new range of aggressively priced Windows 8 laptops and tablets. The HP Stream 11.6 laptop starts from $200, putting it firmly in Chromebook territory.
Chromebook sales have been just about the only notable success in the consumer computer market (aside from Apple’s Macs) in recent times, so HP is clearly targeting that market in its latest bid to return to a position of strength in the industry.
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