Agilent is returning to its origins as a testing-and-measuring business.
The company, which spun off from Hewlett-Packard in 2000, announced last week that it is selling off several parts of its business so that it can focus on its core competencies.
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It is selling its semiconductor products business to investment groups for $2.66 billion and its stake in Lumileds Lighting to Royal Phillips Electronics for $950 million.
It also will spin off its chip-testing business next year.
Agilent Technologies executives said these moves—which will cut infrastructure costs by $450 million—will enable the company to focus solely on the $40 billion test-and-measurement market, which helped build HP into the global company it is today.
Company officials also said they will be laying off 1,300 of Agilents 28,000-member work force.
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