In a rational world, this would be a big potential win for HP (HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman: There may be companies willing to take Autonomy off her balance sheet. The Wall Street Journal reports that HP “has received expressions of interest from potential suitors for its Autonomy Corp. business” that it purchased for $11 billion back in 2011. Washing its hands of Autonomy would seem to be a welcome option for HP, which last year had to write off a whopping $8.8 billion in the wake of alleged accounting fraud committed at the enterprise information technology firm prior to its acquisition. But despite all that, the Journal says that Whitman so far has been reluctant to dump the company to any bidder even though HP’s most recent 10-K filing said that it was evaluating “the potential disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our objectives,” a strong hint that it wants to unload some underperforming segments.
Despite interested buyers, HP reportedly reluctant to unload Autonomy
Published Jan 16th, 2013 9:53PM EST
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Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.
