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From beginning to breakup: a history of HP's highs and lows
HP's recent decision to split into two companies is undoubtedly a big deal. It's a cornerstone of Silicon Valley, and it has been synonymous with PCs for much of its lifetime. However, this is really just the latest chapter for a technology legend that has witnessed plenty of triumphs and disasters throughout its 75-year history. We've rounded up some of its greatest and lowest moments in a gallery, ranging from its humble beginnings in a garage to the webOS era and a series of scandals -- check them out if you want to know how HP reached yet another turning point. [Image credit: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images]
Larry Ellison steps aside as Oracle CEO, former HP exec Mark Hurd promoted
Usually the only time we talk about Oracle is in relation to its battle with Google over Java and the use of related APIs in Android, but not today. At the age of 70, co-founder Larry Ellison is stepping down from the post of CEO and moving to a new post as Executive Chairman of the Board and CTO. Taking over the reins of the enterprise software company is the duo of Safra Catz and Mark Hurd. You'll recall Hurd as the former CEO of HP, who resigned from that company over a sexual harassment investigation and false expense reports, and then became the target of an (eventually resolved) lawsuit when he joined Oracle four years ago. His awkward exit resulted in collateral damage to HP acquisition Palm, and by extension webOS. The trio of Ellison, former CFO Catz and Hurd will share responsibilities going forward, with Ellison stating in the press release that the only difference is "Safra and Mark will now report to the Oracle Board rather than to me." [Image credit: NBAE/Getty Images]
Jon Rubinstein: Hewlett Packard's purchase of Palm was a waste
Finally, Jon Rubinstein is ready to re-open the wounds sustained from HP's bungled acquisition of Palm. When Fierce Wireless asked the former CEO what he'd do differently, he said that selling the company to Hewlett Packard was "a waste," and that he probably wouldn't do the same again. He also revealed that the company's awkward exclusive relationship with Sprint was caused by last-minute withdrawals from Verizon and Vodafone. If you're curious about Rubinstein's feelings on how webOS has influenced mobile operating systems and his new roles with Amazon and Qualcomm, head on down to the source link.
How Steve Jobs tried to save HP
In a Bloomberg Businessweek article this week, writers Ashlee Vance and Aaron Ricadela reveal a conversation between former HP CEO Mark Hurd and Steve Jobs that had not been previously disclosed. That article asks whether or not current HP CEO Meg Whitman can save the company that once ruled Silicon Valley but is now seemingly free-falling towards oblivion. Hurd was the CEO of HP between 2006 and 2010, and under his guidance the company became the leader in both PC sales and printer market share. In 2010, Hurd resigned under suspicion of a sexual harassment allegation and under pressure from a board of directors described as "dysfunctional." Almost immediately, HP's share prices began to fall. Jobs was concerned that the HP board had used the allegation to push Hurd out, a move Oracle CEO and Jobs friend Larry Ellison described as "the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple Board fired Steve Jobs many years ago." Jobs invited Hurd to his home, and the two talked while Jobs took Hurd on one of his customary long walks. To quote the Bloomberg Businessweek article, "At numerous points during their conversation, Jobs pleaded with Hurd to do whatever it took to set things right with the board so that Hurd could return. Jobs even offered to write a letter to HP's directors and to call them up one by one...By offering Hurd counsel, Jobs wasn't merely lending a friend psychological support. Rather, he was going to bat for the legacy of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. A healthy HP, Jobs urged, was essential to a healthy Silicon Valley." The entire article is a fascinating read about a tech company that has lost its spark and a cautionary tale for any company about how quickly fortunes can change.
HP and Oracle kiss, make up, agree that Mark's better off with Larry
Guess it wasn't "virtually impossible" for Oracle and HP to work together after all -- the two companies have settled their little tiff over disgraced former HP CEO Mark Hurd. According to the statement we just received, Oracle and HP have "reaffirmed their long-term strategic partnership" and have decided that ol' Mark can "protect HP's confidential information while fulfilling his responsibilities at Oracle." Mark will also visit HP every other weekend and attend at least 50 percent of its Little League games. Honestly, we're kind of sad this is over, since that means Larry Ellison won't have any reason to call everyone "idiots" anymore. On second thought, he'll probably figure something out. Update: Our friend Kara Swisher at All Things Digital reports that Mark's given up the $30-40m worth of stock options he got in his severance from HP. Sad... until you realize he gets to keep at least $12m in cash and work for Oracle directly competing with the company that ran him out of town. Nice.
CE-Oh no he didn't!: IBM's Palmisano says HP 'used to be' an inventive company
The finest putdowns are usually the simplest. To wit, check out IBM's Chief Executive Trashtalker, Samuel Palmisano, whose elegant use of the past tense relegates HP's current status to that of a mere has-been innovator. Now, says Sam, HP is forced to acquire new companies just to keep up, thanks in part to Mark Hurd's slashing of investment in research and development. Speaking of Hurd, Palmisano also thinks HP failed its investors by handing him a fat severance package as he promptly jumped ship to Larry Ellison's Oracle loveboat. Another reason why Palmisano isn't worried about HP is that he sees the PC era as already over, describing IBM's sale of its PC business to Lenovo as an act of foresight, and adding that he "couldn't give it away today." Clearly they don't mince their words over at International Business Machines.
Larry Ellison on HP's Mark Hurd lawsuit: 'virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together'
Uh, wow. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison just released a statement in response to HP suing former CEO Mark Hurd for taking a position as Oracle's co-president, and well, just read it: Oracle has long viewed HP as an important partner," said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. "By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees. The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace. Yeah. Homeboy isn't playing around. Of course, HP's entire lawsuit hinges on the court agreeing that HP and Oracle are actually direct competitors in the enterprise space, and, as the lawsuit points out, Oracle itself has filed SEC reports saying its hardware and software products "compete directly" with HP and other companies, so perhaps this is all more sound than fury, but at this point we wouldn't count on a quick settlement putting all this to bed anytime soon. P.S.- We told you Larry Ellison would say something bonkers again.
HP sues former CEO Mark Hurd, doesn't want him working at Oracle
Hey, remember when HP fired former CEO Mark Hurd for fudging his expense reports in connection with some shady potential hanky-panky surrounding a former marketing contractor? And then gave him a $40-50m severance package that included $12m in straight cash to keep his mouth shut and not sue anyone? And then Oracle CEO Larry Ellison called HP's board "idiots" for firing Hurd? Well, over the weekend Larry put his money where his mouth is and hired ol' Mark as Oracle's new president, and that seems to have been the last straw for HP -- the company just announced that it's suing Mark Hurd for breach of contract and "threatened misappropriation of trade secrets." HP says that Hurd was deeply involved in creating HP's business plans for the next two years, including specific plans to compete with Oracle in the enterprise market, and that there's no way Hurd can do his job at Oracle without revealing trade secrets and other confidential information he agreed to keep under wraps when he signed his employment contract with HP. What's more, he reaffirmed those commitments when he signed his severance package, so that's a double whammy -- and although California is usually pretty hostile to noncompete agreements, HP's trying to say Hurd violated one of those, too. HP's asked the court to prevent Hurd from working for Oracle or any other competitors at all, so we're guessing this one's going to be a fight -- we'll let you know if Larry Ellison says something bonkers again anything good happens. P.S.- The WSJ piece linked in More Coverage says there's no noncompete agreement in play here, but we're reading the complaint and HP specifically references a protective covenant forbidding Hurd from working for a competitor under certain conditions -- that certainly looks like a noncompete clause to us.
HP reports Q3 2010 earnings, posts $2.3 billion operating profit
And to think -- that $2.3 billion figure might have been a few million higher if not for the absurd Golden Parachute that Mark Hurd will continue to float on for centuries to come. All jesting aside, HP published its Q3 2010 financials today, reporting a healthy $2.3b in operating profit (not to be confused with net income, which deducts those massive corporate taxes) and a five percent increase year-over-year. All told, third quarter revenue was listed at $30.7 billion (an 11.4 percent uptick from last year), with a "record" amount of services signings. Interestingly, a whopping 63 percent of total HP revenue came from outside of America, though we're struggling to find any specific mentions of Hurd or Palm in the release (embedded after the break). We'll be checking in on the press call shortly -- we'll let you know if anything crazy goes down.
Engadget Podcast 208 - 08.13.2010
It's the Engadget Podcast....to go! Would you like a little Joanna Stern with that? Easy on the Ziegler, buddy - and 86 the Paul, please. All that plus a special toy for kids ten and under that manage to listen all the way to the end. Update: If you've been unable to download the podcast in iTunes or Zune, it's because we had a naming issue -- it's since been fixed and should download properly once the cache breaks. Sorry for the inconvenience! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel Guests: Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: California Gurls 00:01:30 - The Engadget Show - 011: Peter Molyneux, Fable III, Milo, BlackBerry Torch, Windows Phone 7 00:01:40 - BlackBerry Torch review 00:12:48 - Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone 00:18:38 - Microsoft to open mobile games studio, develop and incubate Windows Phone 7 titles 00:24:42 - Exclusive: Upcoming Apple TV loses 1080p playback, gains apps... and will be renamed iTV 00:36:10 - iPod touch coming in a 'few weeks' with dual cameras and Retina Display, suggests John Gruber 00:39:49 - CDMA iPhone in engineering tests, may arrive in January, says John Gruber 00:43:05 - Plastic Logic kills QUE, 'shifts focus' to second-generation ProReader 00:43:56 - Notion Ink Adam delayed, this time investors are to blame (updated!) 01:47:00 - Notion Ink Adam priced at $498, lives up to promise of being below $499 00:50:20 - Dell Streak on sale August 13 for $300 on AT&T contract, $550 without 00:51:14 - Off-contract Dell Streak is still SIM-locked to AT&T, wrongs still being done in the world 00:52:40 - Exclusive: Dell Thunder prototype rumbles into the wild (video) 00:57:05 - Motorola Droid 2 (and R2-D2 edition!) finally official: Android 2.2, Swype, $200 on contract 00:57:50 - Droid 2 R2-D2 edition spied in the wild, ready to repair your X-wing 00:58:30 - Motorola's Droid 2 in the wild, looking as blue as ever 01:04:18 - Motorola's Jha says MOTOBLUR brand will fade from view 01:05:22 - Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract (updated) 01:06:14 - HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation (updated with liveblog!) 01:07:35 - Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports 01:09:42 - HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011 01:11:20 - Pre designer Peter Skillman latest to leave Palm, entire senior staff now in exodus 01:14:56 - Google and Verizon announcing something policy-related at 1:30PM ET -- we're liveblogging right here 01:16:00 - Google and Verizon publish joint policy proposal for 'an open internet' 01:17:00 - Google and Verizon's net neutrality proposal explained Hear the podcast Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com. Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @reckless @engadget @zpower @joannastern
Ce-Oh no he didn't!: Larry Ellison likens HP board to 'idiots' at Apple
Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and regular tennis buddy of the disgraced (and now former) chief of HP Mark Hurd, has decided to share his thoughts on the matter of Hurd's departure in an impassioned email to the New York Times: "The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago. That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them." The communique, also obtained by the Mercury News, included other tasty tidbits such as Ellison describing HP's disclosure of the apparently unfounded sexual harassment claim against Hurd as "cowardly corporate political correctness," and dismissing the financial irregularities that forced the former CEO's resignation as "petty expenses report errors." So, in short, the world according to Larry is populated by messianic CEOs who shouldn't be held up to the same petty standards as the rest of us.
Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports
Worried that former HP CEO Mark Hurd might not know what to do with himself after getting caught falsifying expense reports to hide girl #2 and being forced to resign? Don't be: ol' Mark's getting a $12,224,693 severance payment in exchange for agreeing not to sue HP. Yep, Mark Hurd just got $12 million in cash for fraudulently filing expense reports to conceal his mistress -- not a bad trick if you can pull it off, we suppose. (We don't know how much he'll have to pay back, but we're guessing he'll have a little cash left over.) Oh, and he's also having his option to buy 775,000 shares of HP stock extended to September, which is pretty groovy considering HP actually upped its quarterly forecast today, some other assorted stock-related compensation, and 18 months of health and dental benefits. Whoever said a little white collar crime doesn't pay? Update: CNBC has sources claiming the total value of Hurd's severance including stocks is closer to $40-50 million, give or take. That's... well, that's a lot of ink cartridges.
HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation (updated with liveblog!)
Wild news out of HP just now -- CEO Mark Hurd has just resigned over a sexual harassment investigation. Hurd and HP's board of directors decided that he should resign following a sexual harassment claim against Hurd and HP by a former marketing contractor -- HP claims that although there was no violation of its sexual harassment policy, Hurd violated the company's standards of business conduct by submitting inaccurate expense reports that covered his relationship with the contractor. CFO Cathie Lesjak is taking over on an interim basis, and she's actually upping the company's forecasts for next quarter, saying Mark's resignation has nothing to do with HP's performance and everything to do with his behavior. A committee led by former Netscape CEO Marc Andreessen has been formed to find a new CEO; Lesjak has asked to be excluded, and HP declined to answer if Jon Rubinstein was being considered when we asked. Update: We liveblogged the media call -- check it after the break! Update 2: A quick note from the investor call, which mostly repeated the same info -- interim CEO Cathie Lesjak said that although Mark Hurd was a "strong leader, at the end of the day, he didn't drive our initiatives -- it was the organization that supported Mark in driving those initiatives." Ouch -- given Mark's recent history of saying things like "we didn't buy Palm to get into the smartphone business," it certainly seems like he might have been a little distracted. Update 3: We've just received the full text of the letter interim HP CFO Cathie Lesjak sent to all employees -- check it after the break.
HP CEO: Palm could end up a 'sub-brand' of the company
Given the way HP has treated acquisitions like VoodooPC and Compaq, this should come as no surprise -- but CEO Mark Hurd is at it again with comments about his company's recent Palm acquisition to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, saying that the brand could "move into the background" and become a "sub-brand," ostensibly the same as Envy and iPAQ (he gives Pavilion as a specific example). From a marketing alignment perspective, that makes sense -- though it assumes that the HP brand is stronger than Palm's in the target demographics that they're looking to sell into. Is that a safe assumption, especially considering how iPAQ withered on the vine? Hard to say.
HP says it's in the smartphone market, after all
HP CEO Mark Hurd certainly caused a few sad faces yesterday when he told investors and analysts that HP "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business," and now the company is trying to walk that back a little -- rest easy, folks, because there are definitely more webOS smartphones on the way. Apparently what Hurd was really trying to say was that HP is excited about using webOS as the foundation for all types of smaller web-connected devices, and smartphones are just a part of that universe -- a part HP intends to pursue. Phew. Now, can we see these new webOS devices, please? Here's the full statement from HP: When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP's small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS's footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones.
HP CEO: "We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business"
You'd think spending a billion dollars on a smartphone company would indicate a desire to, say, make and sell smartphones, but you'd apparently be thinking wrong: HP CEO Mark Hurd just told investors at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch tech conference that his company "didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business," and that he's not going to "spend billions of dollars trying to go into the smartphone business; that doesn't in any way make any sense." Yes, that sound you're hearing is Jon Rubinstein's heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. According to Hurd, HP was actually more interested in Palm's IP -- specifically webOS, which he wants to put on "tens of millions of HP small form-factor web-connected devices." Sure, that makes sense, and it lines up perfectly with HP's plan to "double down on webOS" and put it on everything from netbooks and slates to printers, but hey, Mark? You should really look into the smartphone business when you get a second, okay? Just trust us on this one. We didn't buy Palm to be in the smartphone business. And I tell people that, but it doesn't seem to resonate well. We bought it for the IP. The WebOS is one of the two ground-up pieces of software that is built as a web operating environment...We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices...Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is a very value proposition. [Thanks, Steve]