HP Board of Directors considers dividing company

HP's board of directors, among other options for obtaining the shareholders of maximum profit is considering the possibility to split the company, according to Mashable. HP includes sales units for computers, enterprise servers, and services.

HP's directors discussed both the details of the potential separation scenario and the possibility of keeping the company intact, as it looks like the company is slowly recovering and its stock price has been gaining momentum since it fell below $ 12 last November. In January, stocks went above $ 17, and are now trading at around $ 16.50.

If it turns out that HP can recover from recent troubles, then separation may not happen. However, HP shareholders put pressure on the board of directors because they are unhappy that the current share price is much lower than the company costs.

On December 27, HP announced in its report to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it was considering “the possible disposal of assets and businesses that can no longer help us achieve our goals.” However, according to Mashable sources, the board of directors did not form a special committee to consider the separation option and currently does not plan to do so.

The idea of ​​breaking up with at least one of HP's divisions is not new. Former director Leo Apotheker decided in 2011 to separate a personal computer division from the company. However, Apotheker was then forced to leave the company due to the fact that investors did not agree with his business decisions. He was replaced by former eBay head Meg Whitman, who canceled the division’s allotment.

Then the company said that personal computers are important to increase purchasing power. However, it is now contemplated that HP units alone may cost more than together. Analysts estimate that if HP were divided, the total cost of its units could be more than $ 20 per share and up to $ 29 compared to the current 16.50.

HP and other computer makers have been hit by trends changing in favor of mobile devices and tablets. However, HP also did not recover from its own problems, including from constantly changing leaders and from expensive acquisitions.

More recently, HP's stock price plummeted as a result of a scandal in the reporting of the British software company Autonomy, which HP bought in 2011 for about $ 12 billion. HP said in November that it would write off nearly $ 9 billion in connection with the company's problems.