HP flip-flops on sale of Personal Systems Group

Meg Whitman, who in September replaced the deposed Leo Apotheker as president and CEO of HP, has decided that “exploring options” for the company’s PC business will not, after all, involve selling the division.

Whether in response to indifference to the opportunity to buy its Personal Systems Group, or because it’s decided there are a few strategies it hasn’t tried yet, HP has just announced that it’s keeping PSG after all.

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

It’s quite a change of tune for HP, which in September saw the PSG as something of an orphan in the business. Back then, PSG boss Todd Bradley said: "For PSG to compete for capital with everything from software to routers to printers, it makes enormous amounts of sense for the company to spin out, raise its own capital, invest in the PC priorities and the channel priorities around personal computing."

Now, Bradley says: “We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better.” ®