Hewlett-Packard reportedly has the executive teams in place that will help the massive tech vendor through the complex process of breaking into two separate companies.
Bloomberg News, citing an internal memo it had read, reported that Chris Hsu, senior vice president of operational performance, will be the lead executive in getting Hewlett-Packard Enterprise up and running. Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will sell commercial hardware—including servers, storage appliances and networking gear—as well as enterprise software and services.
Enrique Lores, senior vice president for the company’s Business Personal Systems unit, will head the effort to establish HP Inc., which will sell PCs and printers.
Jim Murrin, chief operating officer of HP’s Enterprise Group, will be responsible for handling the financial aspects of the split, from finances and tax issues to contracts and legal systems, according to Bloomberg’s report.
There also will be a three-person team charged with setting up HP’s enterprise strategy post-separation. The other two members are Mike Nefkens, executive vice president and general manager of HP Enterprise Services, and Robert Youngjohns, executive vice president and general manager of software at the company. Antonio Neri, senior vice president and general manager of HP’s server and networking businesses, will take over Veghte’s old role.
HP CEO Meg Whitman, after several years of resisting pressure to shed the company’s PC unit and insisting that the vendor worked “better together,” announced in September that HP over the next year will split in two to create two more focused and nimble tech vendors. The strategy has received mixed reviews in the industry, with some saying it will free up the PC and enterprise businesses to get products to market faster and to pursue acquisitions. Others have said the move could create two weaker companies, result in overlaps in such areas as sales—for example, rather than getting a call from a single HP representative, businesses now may be contacted by two—and benefit shareholders more than customers.
The plan to split, which also will impact the company’s 300,000-plus employees, also has created fodder for rivals like Dell and Lenovo, which hope to gain customers while their competitor is distracted by the process of breaking in two. At the recent Dell World 2014 show, CEO Michael Dell noted the stability of his company and the role of PCs in its work to become an enterprise IT solutions provider.
“To be in the end-to-end infrastructure business, you have to have both ends, or else it’s the end,” he said.