Updated on 06/10/14: Through a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hewlett-Packard has revealed plans to split itself into two publicly trading companies, one focused on personal computers and printers and the other on enterprise hardware and services. The transition is expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, which broke the story over the weekend, HP CEO Meg Whitman will head up its new Hewlett-Packard Enterprise division, which will oversee its software and corporate hardware business, including the development of cloud services.
The other company, called HP Inc, will focus on making headway in the areas of personal computing and 3D printing. Whitman will also serve as non-executive chairman of HP Inc's board of directors, and that company will be led by Dion Weisler, currently the executive vice president of HP's printing and personal systems business.
HP has also announced that it will cut another 5,000 jobs going forward into the breakup, bringing the total number of cuts under Whitman's tenure to 55,000, or 1.5 per cent of the company's total workforce.
Why split?
This isn't the first time talks of a split have swirled around HP.
HP toyed with siphoning off its PC division in 2011 after it acquired Autonomy Corp., though the company quickly pulled back on the plan. The firm has seen a restructure under Whitman's leadership, including the melding of its PC and printer business into one group.
According to Re/code, HP spent months looking to sell several of its business units, among them its PC and enterprise services arms, but found no outside takers. Lenovo and Dell were reportedly approached about taking HP's PC business off its hands, while two Indian companies were courted with buying its enterprise unit.
IBM was also reportedly approached regarding HP's Business Critical Service sector. HP's advances weren't met with affirmative answers.
