The Hewlett Packard Company announced Monday that it is splitting into two separate companies. HP Inc. will focus on the consumer sector, while Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will focus on businesses. The breakup is expected to be complete by the end of fiscal 2015, the company said.
Current CEO Meg Whitman will continue as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and also be chairman of HP Inc. Dion Weisler, currently an executive in the PC and printers division, will be CEO of HP Inc.
Neither new company is much to get excited about. On the enterprise side, revenue was down 5% in 2013 and is flat this year. On the consumer side, numbers from printers and PCs are also lukewarm.
In reference to the two new companies, Chuck Jones at Forbes asked: “Which garbage truck do you want to own?” The split seems poised to do little but turn one big, dull technology company into two, without the consumer appeal of Apple or the cutting-edge business reputation of enterprise providers such as Amazon.
It’s been a rough couple of years for HP. The company has already cut 36,000 jobs as part of a five-year turnaround plan announced in 2012, and upped the projected total number of layoffs to 55,000. Though share price has nearly tripled since a 2012 low, it remains unimpressive compared to all-time highs.
Still, investors appear to be optimistic about the split early on: HP shares were up 5% as of Monday morning.