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Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) is all-in on PCs, baby. New CEO Meg Whitman has nixed Leo Apotheker's plan to spin off the HP's PC business. In IT Blogwatch, it's bloggers' heads that are spinning.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: No good deed goes unpunished...
Patrick Thibodeau reports:
Whitman...categorically rejected a plan offered up by her predecessor. ... HP said it...concluded that it was just too important to its supply chain, procurement and overall brand. ... HP is the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers.
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Apotheker saw the PC division as a low-margin distraction. ... Apotheker was removed from his post by the board. ... This is Whitman's first big strategic decision for HP. ... [S]he is holding on to a division that generated $40.7 billion in revenues in 2010.
Meghan Kelly adds:
Upon taking her position, Whitman pledged to stay the course, bringing a little continuity back. ... The review process involved looking at data on how deeply integrated the PC business was into HP...how the PC division affected its brand, and inevitably its bottom-line.
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What a way to start off as chief executive.
Sean Gallagher keeps it short and sour:
After a couple months of waffling, the decision comes too late for...HPs Palm acquisition. But despite the missteps of...Leo Apotheker, the Personal Systems Group has retained the lead in personal computer sales.
And Harry McCracken sees the cracks:
I always found the breakup plausible...but Im glad its not happening. And it always suffered from a fundamental flaw: How could it make sense for HP to want to be an enterprise software and services company that also happened to be heavily dependent on profits from ink cartridges?
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The next few years of the PC industry are going to be some of the most interesting ones since the beginning of the PC business. ... I hope that HP takes that as an opportunity.
Meanwhile, Meg talks to Arik Hesseldahl:
This is a fabulous business. Its No. 1 in its business, and profitable, which is quite different from the IBM-Lenovo decision a few years ago. ... [T]he math was very compelling. ... [And] we talked to customers and channel partners, and the feedback was...that you are stronger together.
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[W]hile the operating margin of this business is not as high as some of the other businesses at HP, the return on investment capital is really terrific. ... Were going to continue to be the best at managing our supply chain and manufacturing excellence. Were going to play to win in...top emerging markets. Were going to...continue to make great, trendsetting products. Im excited about this business.
But Dennis K. Berman can't resist this punch:
To recap: [HP] global pioneer in calculators, finds that it misstated the cost of spinning off its PC business by $2.1 billion.
