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HP CEO promises fast decision on PC unit

by Lou Whiteman  |  Published October 5, 2011 at 12:27 PM
The new CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. hopes to determine the future of the company's PC hardware business by the end of the month as she aims to dispel quickly some of the uncertainty hanging over the troubled company.

Meg Whitman, speaking Tuesday at a conference sponsored by Fortune magazine, said she wants to move "much faster" than the company's previously announced pace to decide whether to keep or spin off the PC unit. "Uncertainty is not our friend here," she said.

Whitman, the former eBay Inc. CEO who was already a director at Hewlett-Packard, took over as CEO of Palo Alto-Calif.-based HP last month after the board ousted Léo Apotheker. Although only occupying the corner office for about a year, Apotheker had initiated a series of bold moves at HP, including the company's $10.8 billion acquisition of Autonomy Corp. plc and its decision to abandon the mobile platform it acquired in 2010 when it bought Palm Inc. for $1.2 billion. Apotheker also explored options for the $40.7 billion (sales) PC unit.

The notion of spinning off or selling the PC business has been criticized by some in tech circles who say the hardware unit, though low margin, can be bundled with HP's growing software and services offerings to offer a complete tech package to potential corporate customers.

Whitman, since taking over, has said she intends to keep an open mind when evaluating HP's various businesses. The company might be feeling pressure to announce a long-term strategy quickly: HP in recent weeks reportedly hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to ward off potential activist investors and hostile suitors.

Should HP decide to move forward with a separation of its PC unit, a spinoff to shareholders might be more likely than a sale. In the months since the company announced it was exploring options for the unit, several potential bidders, including Samsung Electronics Co., have downplayed their interest in acquiring the operation.

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Tags: computers | Hewlett-Packard Co. | HP | Meg Whitman

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