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Hewlett Packard will cut another 30,000 jobs during split
As it continues the process of splitting itself into two distinct companies, Hewlett-Packard has announced that it'll fire between 25,000 and 30,000 more employees. That figure is believed to be on top of the 55,000 roles that were earmarked for the door when the plan was announced last October. If you're not caught up on the news, here's the tl:dr version: the ailing hardware maker is becoming two smaller firms in the hope that it can survive in a world that no longer loves the PC. Hewlett Packard Enterprise will produce software, services and servers for the business crowd, much like IBM, while HP will take over the personal computing and printer divisions.
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]
HP cuts 16,000 jobs, up to 5 percent of its workforce
It looks like HP's layoff estimates were off again -- according to the company's latest financial report, it needs to cut an additional 11,000 to 16,000 employees from its payroll to make ends meet. This is the third (and largest) adjustment the company has made to its layoff numbers; HP originally planned to axe 27,000 employees in May of 2012, but increased the estimate to 29,000 the following september and to 34,000 in 2013. Now the restructuring plan could eliminate as many as 50,000 jobs in total. Harsh news for HP employees, particularly after CEO Meg Whitman said that the company was done eliminating positions. The president makes no such promises this time, but she's at least optimistic about the restructuring. "I'm pleased to report that HP's turnaround remains on track," and said that increased layoffs "make sense in a turnaround of this scale."
HP woes continue as 5,000 more employees face the axe (updated)
It certainly won't be a happy new year for thousands of HP employees -- not when the company has increased its layoff numbers yet again. Hewlett-Packard already adjusted the number of people it needed to let go from 27,000 to 29,000 a year ago, but it's now added another 5,000 to the total. According to HP's new SEC 10-K filing, cutting off 34,000 positions will save the ailing firm $4.1 billion per fiscal year. Since the company's only done removing 24,600 people, it's bound to let go of 9,000 more until October 2014. The good news (for everyone left anyway) is that CEO Meg Whitman has promised that this will be the last big round of layoffs. HP's undergone several management changes and restructuring efforts these past few years, though, so here's hoping Whitman's words hold true. Update (01/01/14): An HP spokesperson reached out and clarified that the company has known it'd likely go beyond 29,000 since early 2013. A SEC filing from March last year states that "the total expected headcount reductions could vary as much as 15% from [its] estimates (29,000)."
Former Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie joins HP's board of directors
Ray Ozzie may have left Microsoft back in October 2010, having directly focused a lot of the company's recent efforts on cloud connectivity, but he's now got a new job. Ozzie will be joining HP CEO Meg Whitman on the company's board. Increasing the board size to twelve, he will join James Skinner, currently the chairman of Walgreens and former CEO of McDonald's and former CEO of Liberty Media Robert Bennett. The influential former MS software chief, who succeeded Bill Gates in the position back in 2006, will join groups looking into human resources, compensation and governance -- some pretty important spheres. HP isn't done, however, and will apparently be hunting down yet more directors in the next few months.
HP Q1 2013 earnings: $1.2 billion in profit on revenue of $28.4 billion
HP's stock is climbing in after hours trading from news of the company's quarterly financial results. The Palo Alto firm has posted a profit of $1.2 billion for the first quarter, which is based on revenues of $28.4 billion. While the results fared better than HP's previous expectations, both profit and revenue have fallen year-over-year for the Silicon Valley mainstay, down 16 percent and six percent, respectively. With respect to the company's divisions, personal systems, printing, enterprise, services and software have each taken a hit from the previous year, with HP's financial services segment being the only unit to show growth (despite the fact that financing volume is also down). Beyond the sagging numbers, Meg Whitman is offering reason for optimism to investors, saying the company will bring "a number of new programs and disruptive innovations to market in the coming quarters, and we expect the benefits from our restructuring will accelerate through fiscal 2013." For the complete breakdown of HP's financial health, just hit up the source link.
Meg Whitman says HP has to 'offer a smartphone'
HP bet big on the smartphone world when it purchased Palm, but the company fell flat on its face and webOS failed to take off. The reasons for the failure are numerous, but the new CEO Meg Whitman is smart enough to realize it can't simply abandon the market entirely. In an interview with Fox Business, she said that HP "ultimately has to offer a smartphone." Though she was willing to acknowledge that the company is "working on this," she would not divulge too many details about its mobile plans. Whether or not webOS may rise from the ashes as a largely community-powered platform remains to be seen, but we wouldn't be shocked to see HP pivot towards its longtime partner Microsoft, and release a Windows Phone 8 device. Perhaps the best glimmer of hope for the former Palm system was Meg's focus on developing markets. She rightly points out that, in some parts of the world, the first and only "computer" a person may own is a smartphone -- and reaching that audience is essential to Hewlett-Packard's success. Going back to the webOS well (with its open source support) would allow the company to save a few dollars on the cost of a new handset. Check out the video after the break for the full quotes in context.
HP exceeds Q3 expectations: rakes $29.7 billion in revenue, still posts a loss
To say that HP is in a bit of a transitional period would probably be an understatement. As expected, the $8 billion hit it took over the EDS purchase severely impacted its bottom line. While revenue was down year-over-year to $29.7 billion, that five percent drop equated to a 568 percent decline in income as the company posted a loss of $8.9 billion. If not for the combined $10.8 billion in charges it was forced to absorb this quarter, the company's net-income would have stood at $2 billion -- which would have been a significant improvement over Q2's $1.6 billion in profit. While such a staggering loss does appear bad, the non-GAAP results should give investors some hope, as the merger and layoff related charges are a one-time deal. Still, the outlook continues to be grim at the Personal Systems Group which has seen revenue drop 10 percent over the last year. The lone bright spot in the company's line up appears to be its software division, where revenue has grown 18 percent year-over-year. CEO Meg Whitman issued a statement alongside the Q3 2012 earnings report looking to assuage nervous investors' fears. "HP is still in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround, and we're making decent progress despite the headwinds," she asserts and assures that better days lie ahead. For more financial fun, check out the PR after the break and all the tables and charts you can handle at the source.
HP will reportedly announce restructuring plan next week, up to 30,000 job cuts
It looks like HP could be in store for another wave of big changes. According to a pair of reports out today (backing up a report from Business Insider yesterday), HP CEO Meg Whitman will announce a new restructuring plan on the company's earnings call next Wednesday -- a plan that will entail some significant job cuts. Bloomberg pegs those cuts in the neighborhood of 25,000, while All Things D says they could include as many as 30,000 jobs, noting also that the number is still a "moving target." To put that in perspective, the company currently employs some 320,000 people worldwide. Of those cuts, 10 to 15,000 are said to come from HP's enterprise services group, and the company is also said to be offering early retirement packages to some 5,000 employees. That restructuring plan will apparently include more than just job cuts, though, with Whitman said to be pushing a "cut and reinvest" approach that will apply across the company, according to ATD.
Meg Whitman: HP's engineering is very much still alive, aims to be cloud computing leader
HP sure knows how to wrap up a party -- by letting its CEO make a surprise appearance right at the end of the show. Joining Todd Bradley on the stage, Meg Whitman reassured the audience with her company's "commitment to fantastic products," and that "engineering is very much still alive from HP." In regards to the recent merger of HP's Imaging and Printing Group with Personal Systems Group (which changed this week's show entirely), Meg -- who's a big believer in focus -- is confident that Todd's new team will deliver a united brand and a unified design language, thus making the PC business stronger with the best customer experience and customer support. Additionally, Meg seems to be getting along just fine with the board, saying that they are deeply engaged to plot a brighter future for HP. Under Meg's supervision, HP is doubling down on R&D and incubation, as well as aiming to be a leader in cloud computing (she claims that HP is already the largest provider of private cloud services) and security by bringing a full host of benefits that the competitors lack. When asked about HP's mobile and tablet strategy, Todd skirted around by emphasizing the happy partnership between HP and Microsoft on tablets, but he also said that markets evolve and change all the time, and that his company's well aware of the differences between the needs of enterprises or small businesses and the needs of consumers. So in other words, stay tuned.
Daily Update for March 22, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Autonomy CEO talks about HP's future, promises 'really stunning technology'
New details are emerging today about HP's plans for Autonomy, nearly two months after Whitman & Co. purchased the software-maker for a cool $10.4 billion. In an interview with ZDNet UK, Autonomy chief executive Mike Lynch said his company's search, data analysis and AR technologies will be integrated within a range of HP products, including its printers, servers and storage unit, and its consumer-focused Personal Systems Group, which handles phones, tablets and PCs. "There is a lot of work going on between the different business units at HP," Lynch explained. "Servers and storage is obviously key [but with the] Personal Systems Group stuff is going to come that was only available for very large companies." He went on to say that Autonomy's data analysis artillery will be linked up to HP's public cloud service, and that both companies have developed some "really stunning technology" for printers. The exec didn't offer many details beyond that, but he did promise that more information would be released "very shortly."
HP will keep PC division, hope alive
There's been plenty of speculation about what the future holds for HP and its Personal Systems Group -- a group that CEO Leo Apotheker seemed intent to shed -- but the crew now led by CEO Meg Whitman has just confirmed that division is staying home, where it belongs. Meg says the company "objectively evaluated" the idea of spinning PSG off but decided that keeping it in-house is "right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees." Or, maybe her reserve wasn't met. Either way, the press release after the break goes on to confirm that the board believes PSG will continue to "drive profitable growth" in these challenging times. Maybe good 'ol Leo was right when he said "You still need larger machines to handle heavy-duty tasks." Heavy indeed. Update: Oh, and in case you had any doubts, HP is actually going to use Windows 8 (when available) to make its tablets appealing. And now you know.
HP's chief strategy officer to retire next month, won't have a successor
Remember Shane Robison, the HP exec who advocated for the survival of webOS following the company's decision to dismantle its hardware unit? Yeah well, he's about to make an exit. HP confirmed yesterday that Robison will retire from his position as executive VP and chief strategy and technology officer on November 1st, after spending eleven years at the company. In a statement, HP praised Robison for spearheading much of its R&D and several high-profile mergers during his tenure there. "In his role, he was responsible for shaping HP's corporate strategy and technology agenda," the company said. "He was instrumental in steering the company's multibillion-dollar research and development investment and has led many of the company's largest merger and acquisition activities." Newly minted CEO Meg Whitman, meanwhile, described Robison as a powerful innovator and lauded his role in guaranteeing "that innovation continues at HP." Perhaps the bigger story, however, is the fact that the firm doesn't plan on filling Robison's shoes. In the announcement, HP confirmed that his position will be dissolved as part of "an effort to drive strategy, research and development closer to the company's businesses." The implications, of course, remain to be seen. Full PR after the break.
HP pays $10.4 billion for controlling interest in Autonomy, which will remain autonomous
VoodooPC. 3Com. And, perhaps most notoriously, Palm. The list of HP acquisitions grows by one today, with the purchase of UK information-software maker Autonomy, long a target of former HP chief Léo Apotheker. Apotheker, you may recall, was just ousted in favor of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. The deal began during Apotheker's tenure and went through with HP paying just about $10.4 billion for a controlling percentage of Autonomy stock. The UK firm will remain a separate unit, with Whitman saying, "Autonomy significantly increases our capabilities to manage and extract meaning from that data to drive insight, foresight and better decision making." Something tells us she's not the only one hoping for some better decision making. For full details on HP's latest buy, check the source link.
HP names Meg Whitman new President and CEO, gives Leo Apotheker the boot
Well, after less than a year on the job as HP's top dog Leo Apotheker is out, and former eBay CEO and one time candidate for California governor Meg Whitman is in. The move was hardly unexpected, but it very quickly evolved from quiet mumblings and rumors to full-fledged fact this afternoon. It was initially expected that Whitman would only be stepping in as an interim solution -- just another person passing through the revolving door at the entrance to the CEO's office. But, Whitman, a current board member, is in for the long haul. She's stepping in at a crucial and somewhat difficult time for the company that has seen its stock price plummet 47 percent, its $1.2 billion mobile OS flounder and is considering spinning off its PC business. She is no stranger to controversy (simply refer to her short tenure with Goldman Sachs) and was an integral part in growing eBay from a startup with just a couple of dozen staff members to one of the most popular destinations on the internet -- so, at least she's accustomed to having a few curve balls thrown her way. In a statement, Whitman said, "I am honored and excited to lead HP. I believe HP matters – it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world." The company also announced today that Ray Lane is moving from a non-executive chairman role to executive chairman of the board of directors, and that the board intends to appoint a lead independent director "promptly." HP's press release and some information from the company's investor call announcing the decision are right after the break.
