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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.

15 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. 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
  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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
  5. 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 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
  6. 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: 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.

  7. 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.
  8. SUSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    HPE wants SUSE.

  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 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.