HP Makes ‘Big Bet’ on Software, Not Likely Target, Fiorina Says
August 22, 2011, 8:10 PM EDTBy Emily Chang and Cory Johnson
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. is making a “big bet on software” by acquiring Autonomy Corp. and weighing a spinoff of the personal computer business, former Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina said in an interview.
Speculation that Oracle Corp. may try to buy Hewlett- Packard “seems to be a stretch,” Fiorina said in the interview with “Bloomberg West.” “I would not call it a takeover target.”
The 22 percent decline in the company’s share price since Aug. 17, the day before it announced the strategy shift and issued profit and sales forecasts that missed analysts’ estimates, is putting pressure on management, she said.
“Any time a stock drops that much, that puts pressure on people,” said Fiorina, who was CEO of Palo Alto, California- based Hewlett-Packard from 1999 through 2005.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Chang in San Francisco at echang68@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net
