HP: Where is it going?

It is clear HP is in trouble. But what of that? How bad is it and what should any of us do who follow this company?

I am gobsmacked at the amount of back channel conversations I’ve been hefting around HP. Mostly from people that truly want to understand what the heck is going on at this beleaguered company. I cannot provide direct insight except to the limited extent I receive Twitter DM’s on this topic from people who claim special knowledge. That usually means they’ve had coffee with a pissed off VP. It does include well placed HP insiders who are scrambling for position. Be that as it may be and understand that stress does odd things to otherwise rational people.

Let’s make no mistake. HP is the first in what could be a who’s who of Silicon Valley titans that are/will be blasted by the chill wind of change. Unlike the past where temporary hiccups could be overcome, even the usually intellectually challenged Wall Street analysts are smelling blood in the water as they scramble to realise their models are not what Excel was telling them. As for the rest, it feels as though everyone has an opinion about HP. But then everyone has an a$$hole. And most of them stink. Can we all please step back and think for more than the required attention span of a passing Tweet?

Let’s get it out on the table - HP is a mess. Are they alone? Not at all. I can count at least Microsoft and Cisco that are on PR disguised life support. Dell likes to quip at HP’s expense but I sense its CEO needs to take a long hard look at its defensible business before getting a cheap laugh at anyone else’s expense. There are many others. But let’s deal with what we see.

When Leo Apotheker, CEO HP was appointed who else was there to pick up the poisoned chalice Mark Hurd left behind? No-one. Hurd had done exactly what the financial markets expected of him without thinking for one nanosecond about the long term future or viability of this once great company.