
HP's Autonomy Hassles: Tech Weekly Recap
NEW YORK (
) --
HP
(HPQ) - Get Report
was the
of the holiday-shortened trading week as the
Dow
component's fourth-quarter results contained a nasty surprise that sent its stock plunging.
HP's
of U.K. software maker
Autonomy
last year was thrust into the spotlight on Tuesday, as the company recorded a massive writedown of around $8.8 billion related to the deal.
HP said most of the asset impairment charge relates to "serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy" that occurred prior to HP's $10.3 billion acquisition of the company.
"These improprieties were discovered through an internal investigation after a senior member of Autonomy's management team came forward following the departure of
Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch in May," said HP CEO Meg Whitman, during the company's earnings conference call on Tuesday.
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HP has reported the accounting improprieties to the
Securities and Exchange Commission
and the U.K's
Serious Fraud Office
, she added, and also intends to seek redress through the civil courts.
"This will take a long time to work through, but we're committed to seeking redress for our shareholders," she said, in response to an analyst's question. "I expect that this will be a multi-year process in the courts of both countries."
The No. 1 PC maker beat Wall Street's earnings estimate for the quarter, but missed the consensus top-line forecast.
Revenue from HP's Personal Systems Group (PSG) was down 14% year over year, while printing sales slipped 5%. HP's services revenue slipped 6% compared to the equivalent quarter last year, while Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN) was down 9%.
Software revenue increased 14% year over year, including the results of Autonomy.
HP shares lost 8.6% during the week to close at $12.44 on Friday.
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
also grabbed its share of attention this week, after the tech giant
its Black Friday sales event.
As part of the promotion, pricing for Apple's iPad with Retina Display started at $458, down from $499. Pricing for the iPad 2 started at $368, down from $399, while pricing for the fourth-generation iPod Touch started at $178, down from $199. Apple announced Black Friday deals on 19 products and accessories.
TheStreet's
Chris Ciaccia, however, was unmoved by the promotion, citing
for Apple products elsewhere, such as at
Best Buy
(BBY) - Get Report
.
Apple shares gained 4.5% to end the week at $571.50.
Apple rival
Research In Motion
(RIMM)
made some big share gains this week as the embattled Canadian handset maker received some
ahead of its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 launch.
On Tuesday Jefferies analyst Peter Misek
RIM to hold, citing strong carrier support for BlackBerry 10.
On Wednesday, before the market's Thanksgiving break, National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson increased his RIM price target to $15 from $12, citing investor opportunities ahead of BlackBerry 10's arrival next year.
RIM shares rose a whopping 36% during the week's trading to close at $11.66.
There was also some M&A news this week, with
Cisco
(CSCO) - Get Report
announcing a
for privately held cloud networking specialist
Meraki
late on Sunday.
Meraki touts technology for Wi-Fi, switching, security and mobile device management, which is managed from the cloud. With a growing number of businesses letting employees hook their own smartphones and tablets up to corporate networks (a phenomenon known as Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD), Cisco sees an opportunity to tap into this trend through the Meraki.
The Meraki acquisition comes hot on the heels of Cisco's $125 million purchase of cloud automation and management specialist
Cloupia
last week.
Cisco shares gained 12% to end the week at $18.84.
Intel
(INTC) - Get Report
CEO Paul Otellini will retire in May, the chip giant
on Monday.
Otellini, who has led the No. 1 chipmaker since 2005, has decided to retire at the company's annual shareholders' meeting next year, Intel said. The company's board will consider internal and external candidates to succeed Otellini, according to Intel's statement.
Shares of Intel ended the week down 5.2% at $19.72.
Salesforce.com
(CRM) - Get Report
analysts' third-quarter estimates on Tuesday, boosted by hikes in subscription/support revenue and its professional services business.
"Salesforce.com is the first enterprise cloud computing company to exceed a $3 billion annual revenue run rate," said CEO Marc Benioff, in a statement.
Salesforce shares rose 13% to close the week at $159.45.
The Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday may be over, but the holiday shopping season continues apace next week. I hope that you get a chance to rest up this weekend before Cyber Monday kicks off.
-- Written by James Rogers in New York.
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