HP sued by sued by investors over Touchpad/webOS fiasco
16 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Was Hewlett-Packard being intentionally deceptive or responsibly discreet?
That's essentially the question to be considered in a U.S. District Court where a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed this week by a disgruntled shareholder of Hewlett-Packard.
The shareholder, Richard Gammel, alleges in the lawsuit that CEO Leo Apotheker and other HP executives for the better part of the past year purposely misled investors about the company's performance and future plans.
The world's largest computer manufacturer announced on Aug. 18 that it would cease producing devices powered by the webOS mobile operating system, such as its recently launched and aggressively hyped TouchPad tablet, and, even more amazingly, may spin off its low-margin PC business, which generates nearly 30% of HP's revenues.
HP also said it was buying Autonomy, a British database-search software company, for $10.3 billion, a price many analysts and shareholders considered to be excessive.
The moves were being made, HP said, so the company could pursue a cloud-based software and services strategy that executives promised would deliver higher margins and create greater value for shareholders.
Wall Street's initial reaction was, you might say, a tad skeptical. HP shares plummeted 25% over a two-day period.
The crux of Gammel's suit, filed in a California federal court, is that HP knew its current business model was not working but misled investors with happy talk, all while planning drastic changes that led to last month's huge drop in the company's value.
That HP's announcement regarding intentions to spin off its PC business was out of left field can't be disputed. And while its decision to kill off webOS after paying Palm $1.2 billion for the mobile operating system in April 2010 was surprising, the fact that the TouchPad was a major flop out of the gate was hardly a secret.
Nor was it a secret that HP's most recent quarterly results were disappointing.
Maybe I'm way off on this, but companies can't telegraph major strategy changes (including acquisitions and sell-offs) just so shareholders won't feel deceived. Indeed, one of the reasons HP is being criticized is that by announcing its intentions to find a buyer for its PC business, it's hurting its bargaining leverage.
If this case hinges on proving deception, it's strikes me as a hard one to win. Incompetence, though, may be a different matter altogether. But that's not what this lawsuit is arguing.[/QUOTE]
[URL="http://www.itworld.com/hardware/204119/hp-misled-investors-shareholder-alleges-lawsuit"]Source[/URL]
Damn that new CEO is going to go down in history as the worst CEO ever.
No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;32330437]No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.[/QUOTE]
Well he is the worst in greediness, this guy is the worst in sucking.
[QUOTE=The Baconator;32330661]Well he is the worst in greediness, this guy is the worst in sucking.[/QUOTE]
I think that this CEO is legitimately stupid. He wanted to take one of the worlds biggest PC company out of the hardware business. Doing that kind of thing is like committing suicide and including in your will that you want your body to be eaten by your family.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;32330437]No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.[/QUOTE]
In terms of bringing a business to financial success, Kotick would be a god. However this CEO seems like a complete twat, wanting to block out a major source of income for some stupid agenda. I can understand changes in markets, but when something that represents 30% of total revenue is to be discontinued, that sounds stupid. It'd be like Activision cancelling the Call of Duty series or shutting down the World of Warcraft servers, it's economic suicide.
This is to say that a CEO makes all these decisions in a business. More than likely, the board of directors and numerous other managers at HP made these decisions, although arguably the CEO would have the final say in such decisions.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;32330437]No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.[/QUOTE]if anything he's a good CEO, he brought Activision a lot of money.
i support this
you don't just ditch a highly profiting part of your business(PC building)
[QUOTE=Ezhik;32339325]if anything he's a good CEO, he brought Activision a lot of money.[/QUOTE]
From the corporative side, he's really good at doing what he does.
From the consumer and employee side, he's a right dick head.
This CEO however is either just dumb or is in his own little world.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;32330437]No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.[/QUOTE]
Kotick is a brash arsehole but a pretty slick businessman
[QUOTE=Antdawg;32332977]In terms of bringing a business to financial success, Kotick would be a god. However this CEO seems like a complete twat, wanting to block out a major source of income for some stupid agenda. I can understand changes in markets, but when something that represents 30% of total revenue is to be discontinued, that sounds stupid. It'd be like Activision cancelling the Call of Duty series or shutting down the World of Warcraft servers, it's economic suicide.
This is to say that a CEO makes all these decisions in a business. More than likely, the board of directors and numerous other managers at HP made these decisions, although arguably the CEO would have the final say in such decisions.[/QUOTE]
It was him. He used to work for a software company, he is only CEO cause he was #2 and the CEO resigned.
I'm not complaining, I got a 99$ tablet.
[quote]HP sued by sued by investors[/quote]
[QUOTE=The Baconator;32330661]Well he is the worst in greediness, this guy is the worst in sucking.[/QUOTE]
If he's the worst at sucking, doesn't that just make him not suck?
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;32330437]No CEO is worse than bobby kotick.[/QUOTE]
Sorry but nobody beats Nokia's Stephen Elop
He halved their shares in less than a year and caused a consumer and service provider backlash with just a few statements
[QUOTE=wewt!;32357081]Sorry but nobody beats Nokia's Stephen Elop[/QUOTE]
That asshole ruined the job I wanted.
I was hoping to get a job at Nokia, at the place they've got in my city.
But then the dickheads decide to jump with Microsoft, suddenly Nokia's going to shit and I need to look for other places for when I finally get ready for a job.
[QUOTE=doonbugie2;32350615]I'm not complaining, I got a 99$ tablet.[/QUOTE]
Wish I could still find those around here
Everyone is selling them for $250-$300 now... not worth the price for a dead tablet
[QUOTE=KorJax;32358286]Wish I could still find those around here
Everyone is selling them for $250-$300 now... not worth the price for a dead tablet[/QUOTE]
Depending on how good the Android ports are, it may be worth it if the 32gb versions are $250
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