Meg Whitman has once again failed in her mission. How does this woman keep getting top positions? The decision to break up is an outright admission of failure. This needs to be done or the whole thing and any shareholder value goes down the toilet. By doing this she gets to keep sucking down a big fat compensation plan as CEO of one business and probably some juicy stock grants as non-executive chairman of the other business. She also avoids Icahn, Akerman, Loeb or one of those guys coming after the company to break it up (unless they are already secretly behind this move) and make the underlying value liquid. Her ego doesn't take the public hit it would if those guys humiliated her and dragged her, deservingly, through the mud. She is rumored to be worth over $1 billion which is evidence of a smart woman who knows how to pump something up, make a killing for herself and then get out before the roof falls in on everyone she left behind.
Oh, I don't know... Seems to me their alternative is death. Maybe this will help them focus on opportunities with more urgency.
I think she would've been a better California governor than Jerry Brown, to be blunt.
And Carly Fiorina would be a much better senator than Barbara Boxer. But I think her chances of ever winning an election are slim to none because of her time as HP CEO. Too bad because she's very smart and articulate.
And Carly Fiorina would be a much better senator than Barbara Boxer. But I think her chances of ever winning an election are slim to none because of her time as HP CEO. Too bad because she's very smart and articulate.
All current high-level CA representatives are imbeciles.
HP made fabulous test equipment and instruments. Seems like they could have parlayed that expertise into something with lasting value in the modern manufacturing space. This splitting off from the PC part of the business is paramount to putting a big fat "For Sale" sign on that part of the business. It's just a matter of how low they can go on the sticker price. At a high level it's hard to see the value of that part of the business unless someone like Asus wants to get the last few bits they don't already own in that commodity market. Sad to see another American technology icon fall from grace like DEC, Motorola, Sun, and so many others. If Microsoft doesn't step it up with an original idea soon, they won't be too far behind. The new world economies are emerging in Asia to fill the voids left by the shriveled western economies who can't get their acts together by recognizing the vital role that governments play in creating business friendly policies the reward rather than punish success.
I think she would've been a better California governor than Jerry Brown, to be blunt.
Not to get into politics, but I am curious: in what way? I am certainly not a fan of his, or even know much about him, but haven't CA state finances improved substantially under Brown? What could Whitman have done that Brown hasn't?
one that will focus on enterprise technology and services, and another that will offer consumer-focused products and printers.
Guess which one will be bankrupt within two years.
The two companies will be identified as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc.
This is psychotic. Absolutely nonsensical. That’s the same name. Did ANYONE even THINK about naming one company Hewlett and one company Packard? ARE THEY ALL COMPLETE NUTJOBS?! It’s right there in the name, for heaven’s sake! You’re splitting into two companies. YOU HAVE TWO NAMES IN YOUR NAME.
“Oh, I need some repair work done by HP… … What do you mean I have to call Hewlett-Packard?! You ARE Hewlett-Packard!”
This is a nightmare, that I would live in a world where the top businessmen are THIS STUPID.
Actually HP made they claim to Fame in Test Equipment. There was not a single High Tech Product in the last 50 Yrs that did not use some sort of HP test equipment (Known today as Agilent) Also HP did not do Mainframes they did Mini's and was heavy in the PC or the test and measurement works and printers was another claim to fame for them.
Actually Agilent spun off the test equipment business to a new company called Keysight Technologies in August 2014. Agilent now specialise in scientific equipment such as Mass Spectrometers.
In what way is HP a "personal computing pioneer"? AFAIK, they were a good printer company, and before that they made excellent handheld calculators, and before that they were bigwigs in mainframe computing. But in the PC world, they were just another clone maker, running a GUI ripped off from Macintosh, right?
I dunno, HP calculators were pretty personal;-) and if you knew RPN, you were a young turk nerd in the 70s (slide rules and fortran were old school nerddom).
they were not big wigs in the Mainframe market. They weren't IBM nor were they BUNCH (Burroughs [Sperry]Univac(Unisys) NCR CDC Honeywell).
The made a decent minicomputer (HP3000), but it was by no means a 'mainframe'. Their current Disk Storage was more DEC StorageWorks than anything, and VMS still lives on. HP bought the majority of the PC line (Compaq) and got DEC and Tandem as part of the deal. (tandem the closest to a mainframe, but really just a computer designed to be fault tolerant [err, not so much;-)]). A couple other supermini/parallel players (Apollo and Convex), and that's really their history in computers (bought, not developed, hence my feelings they never really cared about the technology... just the revenue stream).
HP really was a electronics 'device' manufacturer. Between them, Tektronix, and GE... I think they pretty much covered the gamut of 'gadgets' I had to use while working in medical research. This basically led them to printers, thermal, then ink jets (canon/Xerox technology, just with HP drivers). and laser printers. (output from the gadgets). Testing equipment, medical equipment (most of your bedside strip monitors were HP).
I'm surprised how little the EDS debacle is being played today. That's what killed them (nothing like buying a company at 3X it's real value).
Not to get into politics, but I am curious: in what way? I am certainly not a fan of his, or even know much about him, but haven't CA state finances improved substantially under Brown? What could Whitman have done that Brown hasn't?
One of her largest proposals contained cuts that Brown will never touch, at the risk of sinking the state into bankruptcy:
"Whitman's economic proposals also include reforming state employee pensions, reducing the state government workforce by 40,000 employees, streamlining business regulations and cutting $15 billion from the state budget."
Brown is too tied to government employee unions and they are the problem. Public worker unions didn't exist until JFK and for good reason, even FDR opposed them.
Mind you, I'm not arguing against private sector unions (although I think they've outlived their utility), which are protected under the Constitution by freedom of association. Government employees are uniquely protected from the balancing effects of competition, which has enabled deep pockets of corruption to form between government and these unions.
EBay isn't spinning off PayPal because it's a loser. If anything EBay recognizes that the EBay brand and business model are holding back PayPal. If Meg is responsible for the original acquisition that's goes in her Plus column.
baloney. it's EBay's incompetent management that is holding back PayPal. choose Samsung over Apple as a lead digital wallet partner? really?
Guess which one will be bankrupt within two years.
This is psychotic. Absolutely nonsensical. That’s the same name. Did ANYONE even THINK about naming one company Hewlett and one company Packard? ARE THEY ALL COMPLETE NUTJOBS?! It’s right there in the name, for heaven’s sake! You’re splitting into two companies. YOU HAVE TWO NAMES IN YOUR NAME.
“Oh, I need some repair work done by HP… … What do you mean I have to call Hewlett-Packard?! You ARE Hewlett-Packard!”
This is a nightmare, that I would live in a world where the top businessmen are THIS STUPID.
Disagree. While Hewlett and Packard are two names, you can't break that up. That's its identity.
I'm sure its enterprise partners will be informed to contact Hewlett Packard Enterprise
And Carly Fiorina would be a much better senator than Barbara Boxer. But I think her chances of ever winning an election are slim to none because of her time as HP CEO. Too bad because she's very smart and articulate.
I always get that name confused with this actress (unless there is context, which there is)
Disagree. While Hewlett and Packard are two names, you can't break that up. That's its identity.
I'm sure its enterprise partners will be informed to contact Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hugo Boss splits their better and worse stuff into Hugo and Boss collections. Frankly I think that's confusion… and I also realize it's not the same thing since we're talking about HP splitting a company, not merely product lines within a single company.
HP's biggest mistake came in 1999 when they decided to spin off the part of the business they were built on, instruments, and go for the "new and shiny". They've been doing it ever since with disastrous acquisitions like Compaq, Palm and Autonomy.
Meanwhile their old instruments business, Agilent, are beating them hands down. The comparison of the two stocks since Agilent was spun off is informative:
One of her largest proposals contained cuts that Brown will never touch, at the risk of sinking the state into bankruptcy:
"Whitman's economic proposals also include reforming state employee pensions, reducing the state government workforce by 40,000 employees, streamlining business regulations and cutting $15 billion from the state budget."
Do you seriously think that was a realistic proposal? In CA?
I dunno, HP calculators were pretty personal;-) and if you knew RPN, you were a young turk nerd in the 70s (slide rules and fortran were old school nerddom).
Not in the 70s, but yes in the 80s. And the fact is I still own and use an 11c and a 32s at home (amazing that they still work, 30+ years after purchase), and purchased the 11c emulator by RLM on both Mac and Windows computers--and again for my iPhone. Actually, the existence of the iOS version of this emulator is about 50% of the reason I bought the iPhone! The $10 price is fair. And considering that the physical 11c calculator still sells on Ebay for over $100 used, it's a bargain!
Do you seriously think that was a realistic proposal? In CA?
I don't know, but she strikes me as a bull who isn't afraid of a little china shop. If she didn't get her way, she'd pound and pound and pound until she got it.
Actually Agilent spun off the test equipment business to a new company called Keysight Technologies in August 2014. Agilent now specialise in scientific equipment such as Mass Spectrometers.
Now THAT is an interesting bit of history I didn't know about, especially since I recently bought a $29,000 Agilent instrument.
Har har! Back in the day when this was a seriously considered issue, I remember we posited that the two halves could be named... "Baja Oregon" and "Upper Tijuana".
Comments
Oh, I don't know... Seems to me their alternative is death. Maybe this will help them focus on opportunities with more urgency.
And Carly Fiorina would be a much better senator than Barbara Boxer. But I think her chances of ever winning an election are slim to none because of her time as HP CEO. Too bad because she's very smart and articulate.
All current high-level CA representatives are imbeciles.
I think she would've been a better California governor than Jerry Brown, to be blunt.
Not to get into politics, but I am curious: in what way? I am certainly not a fan of his, or even know much about him, but haven't CA state finances improved substantially under Brown? What could Whitman have done that Brown hasn't?
Guess which one will be bankrupt within two years.
This is psychotic. Absolutely nonsensical. That’s the same name. Did ANYONE even THINK about naming one company Hewlett and one company Packard? ARE THEY ALL COMPLETE NUTJOBS?! It’s right there in the name, for heaven’s sake! You’re splitting into two companies. YOU HAVE TWO NAMES IN YOUR NAME.
“Oh, I need some repair work done by HP… … What do you mean I have to call Hewlett-Packard?! You ARE Hewlett-Packard!”
This is a nightmare, that I would live in a world where the top businessmen are THIS STUPID.
Actually Agilent spun off the test equipment business to a new company called Keysight Technologies in August 2014. Agilent now specialise in scientific equipment such as Mass Spectrometers.
In what way is HP a "personal computing pioneer"? AFAIK, they were a good printer company, and before that they made excellent handheld calculators, and before that they were bigwigs in mainframe computing. But in the PC world, they were just another clone maker, running a GUI ripped off from Macintosh, right?
I dunno, HP calculators were pretty personal;-) and if you knew RPN, you were a young turk nerd in the 70s (slide rules and fortran were old school nerddom).
they were not big wigs in the Mainframe market. They weren't IBM nor were they BUNCH (Burroughs [Sperry]Univac(Unisys) NCR CDC Honeywell).
The made a decent minicomputer (HP3000), but it was by no means a 'mainframe'. Their current Disk Storage was more DEC StorageWorks than anything, and VMS still lives on. HP bought the majority of the PC line (Compaq) and got DEC and Tandem as part of the deal. (tandem the closest to a mainframe, but really just a computer designed to be fault tolerant [err, not so much;-)]). A couple other supermini/parallel players (Apollo and Convex), and that's really their history in computers (bought, not developed, hence my feelings they never really cared about the technology... just the revenue stream).
HP really was a electronics 'device' manufacturer. Between them, Tektronix, and GE... I think they pretty much covered the gamut of 'gadgets' I had to use while working in medical research. This basically led them to printers, thermal, then ink jets (canon/Xerox technology, just with HP drivers). and laser printers. (output from the gadgets). Testing equipment, medical equipment (most of your bedside strip monitors were HP).
I'm surprised how little the EDS debacle is being played today. That's what killed them (nothing like buying a company at 3X it's real value).
One of her largest proposals contained cuts that Brown will never touch, at the risk of sinking the state into bankruptcy:
"Whitman's economic proposals also include reforming state employee pensions, reducing the state government workforce by 40,000 employees, streamlining business regulations and cutting $15 billion from the state budget."
http://m.sfgate.com/politics/article/Economists-debate-Whitman-s-economic-proposals-3178670.php
Brown is too tied to government employee unions and they are the problem. Public worker unions didn't exist until JFK and for good reason, even FDR opposed them.
Mind you, I'm not arguing against private sector unions (although I think they've outlived their utility), which are protected under the Constitution by freedom of association. Government employees are uniquely protected from the balancing effects of competition, which has enabled deep pockets of corruption to form between government and these unions.
I think she would've been a better California governor than Jerry Brown, to be blunt.
yeah, she coulda split the State too!
EBay isn't spinning off PayPal because it's a loser. If anything EBay recognizes that the EBay brand and business model are holding back PayPal. If Meg is responsible for the original acquisition that's goes in her Plus column.
baloney. it's EBay's incompetent management that is holding back PayPal. choose Samsung over Apple as a lead digital wallet partner? really?
Disagree. While Hewlett and Packard are two names, you can't break that up. That's its identity.
I'm sure its enterprise partners will be informed to contact Hewlett Packard Enterprise
I always get that name confused with this actress (unless there is context, which there is)
Hugo Boss splits their better and worse stuff into Hugo and Boss collections. Frankly I think that's confusion… and I also realize it's not the same thing since we're talking about HP splitting a company, not merely product lines within a single company.
HP's biggest mistake came in 1999 when they decided to spin off the part of the business they were built on, instruments, and go for the "new and shiny". They've been doing it ever since with disastrous acquisitions like Compaq, Palm and Autonomy.
Meanwhile their old instruments business, Agilent, are beating them hands down. The comparison of the two stocks since Agilent was spun off is informative:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=A+Interactive#%7B%22range%22%3A%22max%22%2C%22indicators%22%3A%7B%22comparison%22%3A%5B%7B%22id%22%3A%22comp_HPQ_close%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22comp%22%2C%22params%22%3A%5B%22HPQ%22%5D%2C%22lineType%22%3A%22line%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22%23ff8c0c%22%2C%22weight%22%3A1%7D%5D%7D%2C%22scale%22%3A%22linear%22%2C%22comparisons%22%3A%7B%22HPQ%22%3A%7B%22color%22%3A%22%23ff8c0c%22%2C%22weight%22%3A1%7D%7D%7D
You did not deliver.
I will not fall for your hollow promises again!
One of her largest proposals contained cuts that Brown will never touch, at the risk of sinking the state into bankruptcy:
"Whitman's economic proposals also include reforming state employee pensions, reducing the state government workforce by 40,000 employees, streamlining business regulations and cutting $15 billion from the state budget."
Do you seriously think that was a realistic proposal? In CA?
I dunno, HP calculators were pretty personal;-) and if you knew RPN, you were a young turk nerd in the 70s (slide rules and fortran were old school nerddom).
Not in the 70s, but yes in the 80s. And the fact is I still own and use an 11c and a 32s at home (amazing that they still work, 30+ years after purchase), and purchased the 11c emulator by RLM on both Mac and Windows computers--and again for my iPhone. Actually, the existence of the iOS version of this emulator is about 50% of the reason I bought the iPhone! The $10 price is fair. And considering that the physical 11c calculator still sells on Ebay for over $100 used, it's a bargain!
I don't know, but she strikes me as a bull who isn't afraid of a little china shop. If she didn't get her way, she'd pound and pound and pound until she got it.
Actually Agilent spun off the test equipment business to a new company called Keysight Technologies in August 2014. Agilent now specialise in scientific equipment such as Mass Spectrometers.
Now THAT is an interesting bit of history I didn't know about, especially since I recently bought a $29,000 Agilent instrument.
yeah, she coulda split the State too!
Har har! Back in the day when this was a seriously considered issue, I remember we posited that the two halves could be named... "Baja Oregon" and "Upper Tijuana".