HP Holds Off on PC Spin-Off Until Year's End

HP may or may not have foreseen the possibility of things going so badly after saying it wanted out of the PC market, but the decision to spin off the PC business turned into a veritable PR disaster that, per recent reports, has taken its toll on employees and directors alike.

HP's announcement that it would back out of the PC market came across as well as one might expect.

For those who aren't up to date with things, HP, even though it is the biggest supplier of PCs, said it would spin off its PC division and leave the market altogether, to focus on other things.

This quickly turned into a PR disaster that caused stocks to take a dive and HP's partners to start placing orders with other companies.

Even getting a new CEO didn't get unease to go away, especially with how, despite partner demands, HP is still bent on leaving the PC market.

Setting aside on how this raises the question of what, exactly, were the disappointing decisions, if not this one, that led to Apotheker's dismissal, the effects were, predictably, not pleasant.

In fact, not only has the faith of the IT industry in HP been shaken, but the morale of the company's own employees has plunged.

In fact, the situation with the latter is reported to be so bad that HP had to put off actually going ahead with the spin-off until the end of the year.

The report also says that it is still possible for the PC decision to be revoked, but a clear answer should be provided, officially, at some point in the near future if things are to stabilize.

After all, it can only take so long for the decision to be reviewed by the new CEO, during which time the whole process is definitely not going to be easy on the nerves of the already demoralized employees.