Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) is close to a deal to purchase British software company Autonomy (AUTN.L) for $10 billion and will announce on Thursday a long-rumored spinoff of its PC division, the world's largest, two sources familiar with the company's plans said. Shares in HP, a storied Silicon Valley icon that dominates the personal computing industry, reversed course to gain more than 3 percent when the news was first reported by Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources. But the stock quickly backtracked and was down more than 4 percent at $30 in afternoon trade. A spinoff of HP's PC arm would confirm speculation that has swirled for months that HP was no longer keen on keeping a business struggling with low growth and single-digit margins. The company plans to announce the spinoff after the market's close, the sources told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) is a provider of products, technologies, software, solutions and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health and education sectors. Shares of HPQ fell by 3.17% or $-0.995/share to $30.40. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $29.75 and as high as $49.39. On average, 21902100 shares of HPQ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 63149572.
