It's Official: HP is Keeping its PC Division

Thursday HP finally ended the drama over its PC division (aka Personal Systems Group or PSG) which began during the summer with the announcement of a possible spin-off or outright sale. According to the company, the unit will remain as part of the HP collective -- it won't be sold or spun-off into a separate company.

"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It’s clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger."

Many in the industry are likely breathing a sigh of relief, especially those who were afraid that HP's withdrawal would send PC components up in price. Even Intel CEO Paul Otellini was blown away with the initial news, admittedly asking himself "what was he thinking?" when HP's former CEO Leo Apotheker made the announcement.

"I was stunned," Otellini said in an interview with FOX News. "I hope that they will decide to stay in the business. To leave consumer digital electronics, to me, would be a very strange decision to make when your whole business model is tied up into imaging and those kinds of things."

But now HP is seemingly staying the course with its PC business, bringing balance back to the PC sector. "As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry’s broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better."

HP said that part of its strategic review revealed the depth of its PSG integration that has occurred across key operations such as supply chain, IT and procurement. The review also detailed the significant extent to which PSG contributes to HP’s solutions portfolio and overall brand value. It also showed that the cost to recreate these in a standalone company outweighed any benefits of separation.

"The outcome of this exercise reaffirms HP’s model and the value for its customers and shareholders," the company said. "PSG is a key component of HP’s strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers. The HP board of directors is confident that PSG can drive profitable growth as part of the larger entity and accelerate solutions from other parts of HP’s business."

More information about the decision is available at www.hp.com/investor/PSG-Decision.

  • AbdullahG
    Okay.

    Homebuilt > Prebuilt
    Reply
  • ravewulf
    It should never have been a consideration in the first place
    Reply
  • CKKwan
    HP is loosing its competition edge in PC and laptop. I hardly see anyone buying HP nowadays.

    The hince continue to break, the keyboard scratches the screen. Driver installation is never a pleasent experience compare to Dell or anyother brand........ Better sell it off when it still worth something.

    Even their laser printer doesn't last as long as Fuji Xeros, my CM1017 broken down slightly more than a year, and the cost to replace the fuser is higher than buying a new unit.

    Sick of HP product.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    Yeah I don't understand their whole motive behind it. It was just a bad business move from the start. I mean they revenue somewhere in between 40 to 50 billion dollars yearly in the consumer electronic sector. It wasn't like they were IBM where they were in the position to sell off their PC sector and focus more on corp. computer platforms where the bulk of their revenue comes from, it's the opposite with HP. Leaving the pc secotr would have cause nothing but desaster for HP. I'm glad HP finally came to their senses about this.
    Reply
  • Shin-san
    HP's stuff is probably outsourced, anyways
    Reply
  • zybch
    All HP have to do to get back up to the top is to sell their PCs without the vast array of junkware and shovelware pre-installed.
    Seriously, it takes almost an hour to manually remove it all, but once thats done the machines run almost twice as fast.
    Reply
  • geminireaper
    just picked up one of the dv6 series laptops for dirt cheap with the 30% off. Its a beast for harware. Compared it to Asus and others and the overall specs couldnt be beat for the price. Im glad they are sticking with it. Once I get it ill format it and get rid of all the bloatware. Will be a very solid machine and will be able to play all the latest games near max. Not my main gaming rig but a good mobile gaming machine.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    I wonder how much PC production is being outsourced by HP. Does selling PSG involve anything more than their tech support and marketing departments?
    Reply
  • AbdullahG
    otacon72Not if you get a fat corp discount.I rarely see discounts on pre-builts in the high-end segment (Dells has a few, but then again, it's Dell). People have budgets when it comes to PCs. If I have a $500 to $600 budget, I would rather spend that money on a quad core home-build with a nice GPU rather than spend $300 on a single or dual core pre-built that I cannot OC, run dual GPUs, etc. that usually costs $500. Screw discounts, I want to get the best for my budget.
    Reply
  • maxiim
    AbdullahGOkay.Homebuilt > PrebuiltYou have to remember that MAJORITY of PC owners buy prebuilt. Not everyone is like us here
    Reply