HP Axes Pre/TouchPad, Buys Autonomy for $10 Billion

If all goes as planned, HP will acquire Autonomy an information management software firm located in the UK for $10.3 billion in a deal that is expected to close by the end of this year.   According to PC World, Autonomy and it’s 2,700 employees will still operate as its own business unit within HP and will still be under current CEO Mike Lynch’s leadership. 

The news of HP’s purchase of Autonomy comes just after HP's announcement that it is terminating its Pre line of smartphones a year and four months after they paid $1.2 Billion for the Pre and its WebOS.  HP also announced that it will also be axing the TouchPad tablet, HP’s would-be iPad competition because of disappointing sales just weeks after its release. 

HP’s move to buy Autonomy could represent a major shift in strategy for HP from the hardware to the software world.  HP’s President and CEO Léo Apotheker reiterated this sentiment when he said that HP hopes its purchase of Autonomy will help boost HP's enterprise software business.