Hewlett-Packard to acquire UK software firm Autonomy for $11.7 billion
19 Aug 2011
In a bid to boost earnings, Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's largest PC maker is acquiring UK-based software company Autonomy Corp for $11.7 billion.
Software has substantially higher margins than hardware.
Over the last five years, Autonomy's revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 55 per cent and operating profit at 83 per cent.
HP also said it is mulling options for its PC business, that could involve a spin-off, nine years after it acquired Compaq, which catapulted it to the world's largest PC maker.
The Californian company, based in Palo Alto has denied media speculation in the past that it plans to spin off or sell its personal-computer business, the world's largest and one of its biggest divisions that is also one of its least profitable.
Cambridge-based Autonomy, which has Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Nestle and the US Securities and Exchange Commission and 25,000 others as its clients, is the second-largest software company in Europe.
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