HP to Consolidate Its Business Units
Hewlett-Packard to Consolidate Five Business Units, Give Two Executives New Roles
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hewlett-Packard Co. announced Tuesday it would consolidate five business units into four and give two executives new roles in an attempt to boost sales to corporate customers.
During HP’s annual analyst conference in New York, chairman and chief executive Carly Fiorina also reiterated her bullish outlook for the Palo Alto-based computer maker.
HP has estimated earnings per share will jump 20 percent in the next quarter, and on Tuesday Fiorina predicted the company would boost earnings per share by 20 percent for the entire 2004 fiscal year.
Fiorina told Wall Street investors that HP executive vice president Ann Livermore would lead a new division responsible for services, computer servers, storage and software.
Livermore, a 21-year HP veteran with a master of business administration degree from Stanford, will head the newly created Technology Solutions Group beginning in mid-2004. The division will include consulting services, a niche under increasing competitive pressure from rival IBM Corp.
Peter Blackmore, who joined HP after the May 2002 acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. and is now in charge of the Enterprise Systems Group, will head HP’s enterprise sales force.
Blackmore, who led Compaq’s sales division, shaved more than $1 billion in costs from HP’s enterprise group by laying off more than 7,000 employees and eliminating some product lines. HP is under pressure from rival Dell Inc., which has been slashing prices of hardware to corporate customers.
It’s unclear if the reduction in business units will result in layoffs