PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug 18, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
HP (NYSE:HPQ) today announced financial results for its third fiscal quarter ended July 31, 2011, as well as the commencement of a company transformation described in detail in separate press releases issued today.
HP unveiled the details of a plan to accelerate the strategy introduced in March. The plan introduced today will:
Move HP into higher value, higher margin growth categories
Sharpen HP’s focus on its strategic priorities of cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on enterprise, commercial and government markets
Increase investment in innovation to drive differentiation
As part of the transformation, HP announced that its board of directors has authorized the exploration of strategic alternatives for the company’s Personal Systems Group. HP will consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from HP through a spin-off or other transaction. (See accompanying press release.)
HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. The devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward.
In addition, HP announced the terms of a recommended transaction for all of the outstanding shares of Autonomy Corporation plc for £25.50 ($42.11) per share in cash. Autonomy’s software powers a full spectrum of mission-critical enterprise applications, including pan-enterprise search, customer interaction solutions, information governance, end-to-end eDiscovery, records management, archiving, business process management, web content management, web optimization, rich media management and video and audio analysis. The addition of Autonomy will accelerate HP’s ability to deliver on its strategy to offer cloud-based solutions and software that best addresses the changing needs of businesses. (See accompanying press release.)
“We’re focused on improving performance across the business,” said Léo Apotheker, HP president and chief executive officer. “HP is taking bold, transformative steps to position the company as a leader in the evolving information economy. Today’s announced plan will allow HP to drive creation of long-term shareholder value through a focus on fewer fronts, thereby improving its ability to execute, invest in innovation and drive a higher-margin business mix.”