HP"s announcement earlier this month that it was looking into alternatives for its Personal Systems Group division, otherwise known as its PC business, sent shock waves in the entire tech industry. While HP"s PC business is still the world"s biggest in terms of PC sales, it"s still not yet clear what HP wants to do with the division. Currently the company is going through a review of the PC business and is expected to make some sort of decision by the end of 2011.
However, a new statement from an HP spokesperson, as reported by Reuters, suggests that if HP had its way it would want to spin off the PC division and turn it into a stand alone company. The spokesperson is quoted as saying, "We prefer a spin-off as a separate company and the working hypotheses is that a spin-off will be in the best interests of HP"s shareholders, customers and employees." However the spokesperson added, " ... we have to complete the diligence process and validate this assumption, including fully understanding the dis-synergies in separating the PSG business from HP."
If HP does in fact decide to spin off its PC business, it could take between 12 and 18 months to accomplish this task. Some companies might be interested in buying the PC division but one company, Samsung, has already publicly admitted it is not interested. Meanwhile HP has tried to make assurances to its customers that it is perfectly safe to buy a HP PC at the moment, saying, " ... whatever structure we ultimately take, we plan to continue delivering innovative products and stand by you."