HP To Divide Into To Separate Business Entities

Hewlett Packard is set to split into two entities, one of those being its PC and printer business, and the other its corporate hardware and services division.

Whispers about the move first emerged yesterday, the BBC reports, and an official announcement may be coming later today.

Current CEO Meg Whitman is expected to head up the new enterprise division, though she will be chairman of the PC and printer business. The CEO of the PC arm will apparently be Dion Weisler, currently executive vice president of that operation.

At the end of last year, Whitman had said that 2014 would see revenue stabilise, and that it was to be a "pivotal year" for the company – and she wasn't kidding if this move does happen.

PC sales have improved for HP this year, after a considerable time in the doldrums, but while total revenue has risen, profits have fallen thanks to the enterprise arm. Evidently the next stage of restructuring and returning to profitability is to do an "eBay", with the auction site also recently announcing its own split down the middle, spinning off payment arm PayPal into its own company.

For HP, the hope is that the move will free up the steadily growing consumer PC/printer business, and that on its own, the consumer division will be able to grow further.

It isn't the first time that spinning off the PC arm has been considered, and previous CEO Leo Apotheker memorably made it known that a split was a possibility, but without any sort of real plan as to how that was going to happen. It was something Whitman was firmly against, and has been up until pretty recently by all accounts, but obviously some good reasons have emerged to change her tune.

Keep your eye on ITProPortal today, because as previously mentioned, we may hear confirmation of this split very shortly indeed.