H-P Pursues Spin-Off of PC Operations

19.08.2011
Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest personal-computer maker, wants to get out of the business.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based giant used its Thursday earnings announcement that it is in talks about spinning the PC operations, and might acquire UK-based software company Autonomy Corp.

According to , the purchase of , would be for about $10 billion.

Specifically, H-P's late-afternoon announcement said that it was planning to announce that its board had authorized the exploration of "strategic alternatives for its Personal Systems Group," and that the company would "consider a broad range of options that may include, among others, a full or partial separation of PSG from H-P through a spin-off or other transaction."

The company said it also plans to announce that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, , although H-P would "continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward." For some, the TouchPad discontinuation was .