hewlett-packard

HP confirms: Feds investigating the Autonomy acquisition

Hewlett-Packard's purchase of enterprise software company Autonomy has already resulted in controversy, lawsuits and an $8.8 billion charge against earnings. Added to that list today: a Department of Justice investigation.

HP's annual report, released today, confirms that the federal government has opened an inquiry" into the deal.

"On November 21, 2012, representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice advised HP that they had opened an investigation relating to Autonomy," the report says. "HP is cooperating with the three investigating agencies."

HP acquired Autonomy in August 2011 for $11.1 billion, or … Read more

HP to Apple: Hey, we already make PCs in the U.S.

If Made In USA is a feature, Hewlett-Packard's got Apple beat.

In effect, that's what HP said today. "Lots of noise...about Apple moving Mac production back to the U.S.... [We] wanted to offer HP's story," said an HP representative via e-mail Friday.

Part of that story was provided by way of a blog post.

"HP PCs have been assembled in the U.S. since the beginning," the post begins. "HP workstations and commercial desktop PCs are manufactured in Indianapolis, and HP servers are manufactured in Houston. These manufacturing facilities employ … Read more

Critics pile on HP as Moody's cuts rating

Moody's cut Hewlett-Packard's rating today, topping a day marked by a rash of critical articles about the Silicon Valley giant.

Moody's Investor Services cut HP's long-term credit rating to Baa1, three levels above junk, from A3, according to Bloomberg. The rating agency said that HP's "credit profile will remain weaker than previously expected over the intermediate term," among other reasons.

This comes in the wake of an $8.8 billion writedown related to alleged fraudulent accounting at Autonomy, the software company HP acquired last year.

And HP's core businesses aren't faring … Read more

HP claims 'extensive evidence' of Autonomy accounting scam

Hewlett Packard says it has discovered "extensive evidence" that an unspecified number of former employees of Autonomy had cooked the books prior to HP's $11.1 billion acquisition of the software company.

In its fourth quarter earnings report last week, HP announced it was taking an $8.8 billion charge related to its purchase of Autonomy. At the time, HP said that it bought the company based on pumped-up and fraudulent accounting. Since then, HP and Autonomy founder and former CEO Mike Lynch have engaged in a public war of words about who was really to blame … Read more

HP offers Black Friday deals on high-end laptops

Hewlett-Packard is offering decent Black Friday deals on some of its premier Windows 8 laptops. And the company has announced shipment dates for a couple of its newest touch-screen entries.

HP's Spectre and Spectre XT models are its top-of-the-line lappies. While just-announced Spectres got tiny discounts, a couple of not-so-recent entries are selling for $100 off today. … Read more

At HP, every day is now Groundhog Day

Rare is the big tech company that has not committed the periodic stumble. But when it comes to bungling and buffoonery, you won't find a bigger serial offender than Hewlett-Packard.

Earlier today, the company essentially said it got scammed into overpaying for Autonomy, the enterprise software company it bought for $11.1 billion last year. That's just the half of it because buried in its Q4 earnings release was this gem: HP is taking an $8.8 billion charge as a result of what it described as "serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures, and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy.&… Read more

Whitman proclaims new products will return HP to 'greatness'

With Hewlett-Packard's stock price going south in a hurry, CEO Meg Whitman tried to advance the argument that HP's 'return to greatness' will based on great products.

"In terms of investments, we are very focused on product, product, product," said CEO Meg Whitman in today's earnings conference call, via a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.

Whitman continued. "Great companies return to greatness on the basis of product."

She went on to cite products like its "Gen8" servers, Moonshot servers, and new lines of PCs, printers, and services.

Both Whitman and chief … Read more

Microsoft is right about touch-screen laptops

Microsoft was touting touch today at its Build conference. And that means for plain old laptops too.

CEO Steve Ballmer addressed this topic during his keynote, which was streamed live.

"You say, do people really want to use touch laptops?" he asked.

Well, if you ask Apple, the answer is no. But for Microsoft it's an important differentiator.

Ballmer continued. "I had a group of leaders of companies over for dinner the other night, and they were saying, 'really, I can just flip [this] through like I would on a tablet?'" he said, as he … Read more

HP prices Envy x2, its alternative to Microsoft Surface, iPad

Hewlett-Packard has priced its Envy x2 laptop-tablet hybrid at $849.99 -- a small tablet-laptop hybrid that runs the full version of Windows 8.

That price may be high for consumers, but HP is pushing it as a high-quality, high-end "hybrid PC" that effectively straddles both the laptop and tablet paradigms.

It comes with many of the ports found on a PC -- USB, HDMI, SD card slot -- a top-notch IPS display, a full-size keyboard with a large trackpad (what HP calls an Imagepad) for Windows 8 gestures, and a touch display that detaches to become a … Read more

In role reversal, Chinese PC firm to manufacture in U.S.

China's largest PC maker, Lenovo, made a stunning announcement this week when it said it will make laptops, tablets, and desktops in the U.S.

So, why in the world would China's largest PC maker decide to manufacture devices here when America's two premier digital gadget suppliers, Apple and Hewlett-Packard, make virtually nothing in the U.S. and almost everything in China and/or Asia?

Needless to say, the answer is more complicated than "growth opportunities" in the U.S. -- as Yuanqing Yang, CEO of Lenovo, said in a statement.

And the move comes … Read more