Autonomy Corp. is an enterprise software company that, according to a description on its website, is the "market leader in the provision of software that automates the analysis of unstructured data, whether in the form of text, audio, images or video."

Earlier in the day, Bloomberg reported that H-P was talking with Autonomy Corp. about a deal in the $10 billion range, as part of overall plans to spin off the enormous PC business. It attributed the report to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Initially, an H-P spokesperson declined to comment.

Chief Executive Leo Apotheker had said earlier this year that he wants to expand in software and services that help customers deliver computing over the Internet, through the cloud. H-P has been aiming to lessen its dependence on lower-margin PCs, where growth has stalled as consumers flock to tablet-style computers like those made by Apple Inc.

"This is the direction we want him to take," Abhey Lamba, an analyst at ISI Group in New York, told Bloomberg. after the first reports broke. "Get out of a low- margin business and focus more on his core competency, which is software."