Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to sell software business

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) is looking to sell its software division, perhaps for as much as $10 billion, according to media reports on Friday that cited sources close to the matter.

The move would include HPE shedding the operations of Autonomy Corp., a British software firm bought five years ago in an $11 billion deal that has since been branded a business blunder.

The former HP wrote off nearly $9 billion from the acquisition of Autonomy, which it accused of fudging financial results.

The Wall Street Journal reported that HPE was seeking from $8 billion to $10 billion for its software operations.

According to The Financial Times, a number of private equity funds are interested in the HPE unit.

“As a matter of policy, HPE does not comment on rumours and speculations,” the company said in an e-mail response to an AFP inquiry.

HPE, based in Palo Alto, California, was the product of the November 2015 split-up of computing giant Hewlett-Packard. 

The group divided in two: its enterprise unit, HPE, and the personal computer and printer business HP Inc. that became a household name but faced increasingly fierce competition.

HPE Chief Executive Meg Whitman has continued making moves to dismantle the company.

HPE in May announced plans to spin off its corporate services business.

The unit was to be merged with Computer Sciences Corp. to create a global corporate technology services giant with expected annual revenues of $26 billion.

Whitman at the time described the deal as the “right next step”.