This Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012, file photo, shows an exterior view of Hewlett Packard Co.’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. The PC business is faltering amid shifting technology trends since Apple Inc. shifted the direction of computing with the release of the iPhone in June 2007. HP’s market value has plunged by 60 percent to $35 billion, while Dell’s market value has also plummeted by 60 percent, to about $20 billion. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma,File)MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Hewlett-Packard Co. used to be known as a place where innovative thinkers flocked to work on great ideas that opened new frontiers in technology. These days, HP is looking behind the times.
Coming off a five-year stretch of miscalculations, HP is in such desperate need of a reboot that many investors have written off its chances of a comeback.
Consider this: Since Apple Inc. shifted the direction of computing with the release of the iPhone in June 2007, HP’s market value has plunged by 60 percent to $35 billion. During that time, HP has spent more than $40 billion on dozens of acquisitions that have largely turned out to be duds so far.
“Just think of all the value that they have destroyed,” ISI analyst Brian Marshall said. “It has been a case of just horrible management.”