HP, a Silicon Valley Icon, Is Ready for Its Break-Up
- 9 years ago
One of the nation's most storied tech companies will split in two this weekend, another casualty of seismic shifts in the way people use technology - and big-company sluggishness in responding.
Hewlett-Packard was an early pioneer of what became the model for Silicon Valley startups: Founded in 1939 by two Stanford graduates in a Palo Alto, California, garage, HP was long celebrated for its engineering know-how and laid-back corporate culture.
HP Inc. will sell personal computers and printers; Hewlett Packard Enterprise will sell commercial computer systems, software and tech services.
Each of the spin-offs will face significant challenges: Demand for PCs and printers is continuing to decline, as more people use mobile devices and store their documents and photos online in the cloud.
HP recently said it's giving up on competing directly in cloud computing, a growing business in which companies large and small run software in remote data centers operated by Amazon and others.
Hewlett-Packard was an early pioneer of what became the model for Silicon Valley startups: Founded in 1939 by two Stanford graduates in a Palo Alto, California, garage, HP was long celebrated for its engineering know-how and laid-back corporate culture.
HP Inc. will sell personal computers and printers; Hewlett Packard Enterprise will sell commercial computer systems, software and tech services.
Each of the spin-offs will face significant challenges: Demand for PCs and printers is continuing to decline, as more people use mobile devices and store their documents and photos online in the cloud.
HP recently said it's giving up on competing directly in cloud computing, a growing business in which companies large and small run software in remote data centers operated by Amazon and others.