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HP Enterprise Reaches $8.8 Billion Deal With Micro Focus For Software Assets (reuters.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the divide-and-conquer dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co will spin off and merge its non-core software assets with Britain's Micro Focus International Plc in a deal worth $8.8 billion, the companies said on Wednesday. The move is part of HPE Chief Executive Meg Whitman's plans to shift HPE's strategy to a few key areas such as networking, storage and technology services since the company separated last year from computer and printer maker HP Inc. The deal with Micro Focus, a multinational software company based in Newbury, United Kingdom, was announced along with HPE's latest quarterly earnings. In the third quarter, HPE reported net revenue of $12.2 billion, down 6 percent from $13.1 billion a year earlier. In the deal, HPE is sending one of the British firms it acquired back to where it started. HPE acquired part of its software portfolio through the $10.3 billion purchase of Britain's Autonomy Corp Plc in 2011. HP's $11 billion purchase of Autonomy was supposed to form the central part of the U.S. group's move into software. Other HPE assets that will be merged include software for application delivery management, big data, enterprise security, information management and governance and IT Operations management businesses.

31 comments

  1. Microfocus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A crummy company who tries to scam companies into spending more for licenses that they don't use. Good thing I was able to code a replacement program in two week. It saved my work millions of dollars.

  2. ... and your reward? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Paraded in front of your coworkers and presented a one hundred dollar gift card (which you know HR got at a discount) from an outfit you'll never shop at. (true story; the guy left the company shortly after.)

    1. Re:... and your reward? by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

      He was lucky he didn't program himself out of his job. (been there, done that)

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
    2. Re:... and your reward? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More likely, get fired, sued, and possibly even face criminal charges when your home brew code fails in some unexpected way* and upper management asks "why were we using a homegrown custom tool instead of a professional application with maintenance and support, and a neck-to-choke if/when things fail?" Personally I'd rather have them blame Micro Focus than me.

      *This is especially pertinent if the failure is security-related and ends up opening the company to a data breach (hi there Sony, Heartland, OPM), or if it negatively affects active, revenue-generating operations (airlines, I'm looking at you. Guess what some of those old incompatible systems are tied together with, homegrown duct-tape code).

    3. Re:... and your reward? by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Having seen microfucus software... They are often the equivalent of quickie apps that are marketed as full fledge enterprise tools.
      I expect with the grandparent that microfucus probably stated they were in violations of term and tried to sue them. So the company just dropped them like a brick and asked its development staff to fill in the gaps.
      Stating it took only a couple of weeks it probably just a small admin tool that most admin can program to streamline operations.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    4. Re:... and your reward? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What Micro Focus applications are you talking about?

      Micro Focus COBOL (programming language and runtime environment)
      Reflection Desktop for X (x server and terminal emulator for Windows)
      SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (operating system)

      These are the Micro Focus software I work with and they do not seem like quickie apps that could be built from scratch in a week.

  3. Sad by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    I remember when HP was a technology powerhouse with a lot of interesting in-house technologies.

    Now, it's just bones to be sold off so Whitman can justify her existence as keeping the company cash positive for investors.

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
    1. Re:Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. HP was also the beginning of the Silicon Valley, as far as our folk history tells it. It's been sad seeing them change so much and have so many near misses and failures.

  4. Micro Focus International offered $23B by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 3, Funny

    But HPE insisted on included Autonomy with the rest of the software assets so Micro Focus adjusted their offer accordingly.

  5. The contract is written in COBOL by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

    MOVE Eight Point Eight Billion US Dollars TO HP.

    1. Re:The contract is written in COBOL by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 1

      When Sentences Are Written Like This, I Have No Idea Where A Company Name Starts And Where It Ends.

    2. Re:The contract is written in COBOL by jfdavis668 · · Score: 1

      Since its COBOL, it should be all upper case, but /. doesn't allow that.

  6. Technology services? by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 1

    Didn't they just announce they are getting rid of that via CSC? HP Enterprise Services, formally known as EDS, WAS the technological consulting services. What's left to get rid of? Seems like the only thing that will be left soon is the server/network hardware, and their crappy cloud...neither of which require many employees in the US. HPE will probably just black-label AWS, Azure, and GCloud as their own, and manufacture everything overseas. It will be a bunch of managers who oversee all contractors. The c-level execs will be the only actual employees. At least the HPE people get severance packages, and expanded unemployment benefits.

    1. Re:Technology services? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that Meg Whitman hates Donal Trump is another reason to vote for him. When the God Emperor prevails, globalist scum like her will be permanently "downsized". Seize her assets and exile her to a rock in the middle of the ocean.

    2. Re:Technology services? by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 2

      HPE wants to outsource at least 60% of itself to India.
      It's a manager fiefdom now.

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
    3. Re:Technology services? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh, no. Voting for a nutjob to spite an asshat (or the other way around, depending on how you see things) is still voting for a nutjob.
      There's NO good reason to vote for the Donald, unless maybe if you're looking to start World War 3 because you're actually looking forward to the apocalypse.
      There's very little reason to vote for the Hillary either, except _maybe_ it could help postpone the above a bit longer.

      Find an independent and tell the idiots at the two "major" parties where they can shove it.

    4. Re:Technology services? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot storage. HPE now is basically Compaq + 3PAR + Aruba. Everything else has been sold off.

  7. You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Earlier Microfocus purchased Attachmate which owned SuSE.

    So now HPE owns a Linux company. For those of us in there from the start of OSS as major businesses (think late 90's) there was kind of a tacit agreement (ok, unwritten rule) hat none of the majors (at the time Compaq, Dell, IBM, HP, Sun) would buy one of the major distros.

    Much to the frustration of many division VPs in those majors, the Cxx's made them sign support and service deals with all the major distros and spread out the business.

    It was seen as the way to prevent creating the next M$ by accident, as IBM did with the DOS deal.

    1. Re:You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it's just SuSE, which a lot of folk are still boycotting after what Novell did with it and the agreements with Microsoft. Even VMware ridded themselves of their SuSE partnership.

    2. Re:You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, 51% of it...

      What does that mean for HPE's major partnership with Red Hat though? If they drop them for both internal use and pushing customers to buy it, that could be enough to actually create a noticeable drop in RH's revenue in the short term I suspect.

    3. Re:You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HPE will get 2.5 billion in cash.
      HPE's shareholders will get 50.1% of Micro Focus stock.
      Micro Focus will get HPE non-core software business.

      Considering the new business will continue to be called Micro Focus and be run by Micro Focus executives, I think Micro Focus bought part of HPE not HPE bought Micro Focus.

    4. Re:You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you look at the vmware vcenter appliance and vmware vsan appliance they are still SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

    5. Re: You realize HPE just bought SuSE Linux, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe AC was referring to the SLES for VMware offering that VMware discontinued a couple years ago.

  8. SUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    HPE wants SUSE.

    1. Re:SUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But is it pronounced "Soos" or "Suzy"? Nobody seems to know.

    2. Re:SUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Souza

  9. HP buys COBOL? by zifn4b · · Score: 1

    Wow, HP buys MicroFocus COBOL? Forget NodeJS and Ruby on Rails folks! Coming soon the new software panacea: Object Oriented COBOL for Cloud Computing Applications. I can hardly contain my excitement.

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re:HP buys COBOL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Micro Focus bought HPEBS (HP Enterprise Business Services). HPE/HPEBS did not buy Micro Focus.

    2. Re:HP buys COBOL? by dougTheRug · · Score: 1

      According to my wife it is called a "reverse acquisition". Keep in mind, HPE already has Nonstop systems and the corresponding COBOL for those.

  10. MF prices by NorthWay · · Score: 1

    MF has some ...interesting pricing for their products.
    How would you like to pay yearly fees for the run-time part that your compiled Cobol code needs to run? Depending on number of users and such ofc.