Whitman confirms November 1 HP split
HP has confirmed it will separate into two very different entities on November, though not before a string of other changes take effect
Meg Whitman at an event. The HP CEO has recently made the decision to split the company into two divisions in order to boost its bottom line
Confirming what many suspected about the forthcoming HP split, Co-Chief Executive Meg Whitman announced at the company’s HP Discover 2015 event that the separation of HP and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise would take effect as of November 1. Capping the last of a five-year turnaround plan, the split follows a string of aggressive cuts made by Whitman to reignite the company’s innovation pipeline, strengthen its go-to-market capabilities and rebuild its balance sheet.
The company has laid off tens of thousands of employees
Little over a year after the split was announced, the personal-computer maker is to separate into two new industry-leading public companies: the first, HP Enterprise, will focus on technology infrastructure, software and services; the second, HP, will work on personal systems and printing. “The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan”, said Whitman in a company statement. “It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources, and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics, while generating long-term value for shareholders.”
The company has laid off tens of thousands of employees recently, responding to a changed marketplace in which demand for computers and printers has slumped, and consumers are increasingly using mobile platforms to meet their computing needs. However, now most of the cuts have taken effect, HP’s focus has fallen on mergers and acquisitions as it looks to break new ground that way rather than organically.
HP’s purchase of Voltage Security in January and Aruba networks in March (the latter the largest deal on Whitman’s watch at $2.7bn) underlines the company’s commitment to expand upon its competencies in cloud computing and enterprise networking, and the two are unlikely to be the last. More deals are sure to come in the lead-up to November 1, before the company is split into two entities with entirely different characteristics.
