HP buys Palm
By Chris Ziegler 
posted April 28th 2010 4:06PM
posted April 28th 2010 4:06PM
Update: PreCentral's managed to grab a copy of Rubinstein's letter to Palm employees.
See also:
- HP buys Palm: the liveblog
- HP: 'We're doubling down on webOS,' Palm: 'That was the whole point'
- HP: opportunities for webOS 'smartphones, slates, and potentially netbooks'
PALO ALTO, Calif. & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE: HPQ - News) and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM - News) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.
The combination of HP's global scale and financial strength with Palm's unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP's ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm's unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
"Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market."
"We're thrilled by HP's vote of confidence in Palm's technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP's longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS," said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm. "We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners."
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The merger consideration takes into account the updated guidance and other financial information being released by Palm this afternoon. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm's stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during HP's third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.
Palm's current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.
The combination of HP's global scale and financial strength with Palm's unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP's ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm's unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
"Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market."
"We're thrilled by HP's vote of confidence in Palm's technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP's longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS," said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm. "We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners."
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The merger consideration takes into account the updated guidance and other financial information being released by Palm this afternoon. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm's stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during HP's third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.
Palm's current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.
HOLY SHIT
Fail
@agroupofletters Yup. All excited!!!!!! Is this good? Anxious.
@agroupofletters Took the words right out of my mouth
@agroupofletters HP??? Why?
@agroupofletters HOLY SHIT BATMAN!
I can't wait to buy a Hp iPrepaq!
@agroupofletters
Pretty cool, huh?
@agroupofletters
I did not see this coming
@agroupofletters
WOW.. This is madness
@agroupofletters
Set sail for fail.
I mean, seriously... HP?!
@zeroinfinity2 Madness?
THIS. IS. HPALM!
@agroupofletters I don't know what to make of this. Part of me wants to yell "yay!" but most of me is scared silly that Palm will be absorbed with nothing but a memory remaining in a year or two.
@liftedngifted1 Because they are a huge megacorp, because they like IBM/MS/APPLE have huge patent portfolios, because they wanted that portfolio?
Surely it is not because they "wanted webOS " 1.2 billion dollars worth.. not when the company had already put "licensing" the OS on the table.
@agroupofletters In other news, HP stock has dropped 22%.
@agroupofletters
No. That's not enough. This is:
HOLY CHRIST ON A F**KING BICYCLE!
@agroupofletters holy shit is right
@agroupofletters
WOW!
So, pretty much the worst eventuality possible has happened. HP, famous for their shitty quality hardware, has bought Palm in an attempt to turn around a company bankrupted by shitty quality hardware.
@agroupofletters
:-|... :-)..... :-O..... 8-O..... X-P
Lol
Son of a....
@agroupofletters i told u mcrosoft was buying palm guys! woohoo looks like im right again!
@agroupofletters
My dreams of HTC-Palm babies have been crushed.
@agroupofletters
My exact response. I was hoping HTC at first, but I decided that Sony would've been the biggest HOLY SHIT inducing buyer. HP is a close second.
@agroupofletters
I'm shocked- they were not even someone I considered going for Palm.
@johnvillar
Holy Poop!
@DestrictoEnse They were bankrupted because of their choice of Network provider and poor advertising, hardware was a distant 3rd.
@DestrictoEnse I was about to say the same thing! The only ideal partner / buyer for Palm would have been RIM. Their hardware is robust but they need a decent OS/GUI. Most unexpected. Either HP are doing MS a favor or they plan to go against Apple/Android/MS in the mobile space.
@agroupofletters nice...We Are Penn State!
@agroupofletters Was that a typo Engadget? You meant HTC right? Right?....
@agroupofletters
You know what's funny? Remember that poll "who will buy out palm blah blah", I picked hp for some odd reason, do I win a prize? Anything Engadget?
@agroupofletters
facePalm
@liftedngifted1 Because HP is a viable company with a product line that is nearly sunk (iPaq), and Palm is a company that is nearly sunk, save for a single viable product line (Pre). Yin and Yang as it were.
With their powers combined...!
...
...
...
We'll see. If HP thinks enough of them to drop 1.2 gi-huge, I think they will be willing to put in enough money for a round of redesigned hardware (and hopefully a better ad campaign)...
Because seriously, with Dell dropping 3 new phones and two tablets, HP needs to step up their mobile game quick...Slate alone is not going to cut it...
@DestrictoEnse as if hp would deliver shitty hardware.. which is why about any company buying dell still relies on hp servers, and elitebooks in the administration level :)
@N900
Or HAM !!
@agroupofletters HP is a good company -- well its good rubinstein is still there. HTC has their hands full with Android & WM7 devices. It would have been really difficult for them to compete against themselves with a first party OS especially when Palm will be flexible to licensing. This could be a lucrative decision unlike some people are thinking. Reactions. http://j.mp/palm-for-sale-reactions
Oh god I hope this doesn't kill WebOS and the homebrew community as we know it.
I blame this 100% on Ruby as his fcuked up creepy chick campaign. It's like he was TRYING to kill the company.
@agroupofletters
Super duper stuff man!.. this is awesum!.. i can just the WebOS netbooks coming out in the next year or so..
@agroupofletters Dell vs HP is now WP7 vs Palm
@agroupofletters
Can someone help me pick up my jaw it just fell to the floor...
::::THUDDD:::::
Dark Vader where are you pew pew hp before it's to late!
@agroupofletters
WEBOS HP TABLET in 6 months please!!!
@DestrictoEnse Servers great, printers great, iPaq great, laptops mediocre, desktops great, routers / switches great.
What's the problem with HP hardware?
@Nitesh HP deal is better and makes a lot more sense.
@agroupofletters Now that my friends is an appropriate use of the word.
@archkron Agree. Title should read: "HP buys anchor for cell phone division"
@DestrictoEnse elitebooks must be too rich for your blood.
@sweet greggo: Don't blame it on Rubinstein. Blame it on Modernista and their crappy advertising strategy. The only thing Modernista can market properly is personal hygiene products.
@archkron
Um...lol...u think Palm deserves better? Cuz ur wrong. This is awesome for Palm for two reasons.
1: HP is a fine company with a lot to contribute and will def be keeping the company alive for a while.
2: HP doing this means that all
of you Palm fans can take comfort on knowing that the Palm brand is still believed to have some life left in it..,if a smaller company had bought them out they might not have the collateral to keep it growing.
.
@zeroinfinity2 NO! THIS. IS. SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@agroupofletters Palm seems happy with this deal. I'm betting HP will let Palm keep it's name and run things on the mobile side, and just collect the profits. I just hope HP doesn't ruin the webOS perfection. Looking forward to witnessing HP announce some sexy new phones running webOS though. Should be good for Palm all around.
@agroupofletters
you would never guess this would happen
i cant wit unitll the HP ipalm comes out