PC giant Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 1.78%) has recently said it was taking an $8.8 billion impairment charge related to its 2011 acquisition of British software maker Autonomy. That was a deal put together by ex-CEO Leo Apotheker. The big twist in this story is that HP says Autonomy defrauded it by fudging the numbers and overvaluing itself. Current CEO Meg Whitman has now overseen approximately $20 billion in writedowns. Going forward, HP needs to refocus on products, which is exactly what Whitman said on the conference call. It will launch tablets running Microsoft (MSFT +0.56%) Windows 8, then eventually a smartphone to challenge Apple (AAPL 1.64%) and Google (GOOG +0.49%).
HP's Monstrous Writedown
By Evan Niu, CFA – Nov 21, 2012 at 9:01PM
Market Cap
$26B
Today's Change
(-1.78%) $0.50
Current Price
$27.66
Price as of October 22, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET
The turnaround clock is ticking.
About the Author
Evan is a Senior Technology Analyst at The Motley Fool. He was previously a Senior Trading Specialist at Charles Schwab, and worked briefly at Tesla. Evan graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and is a CFA charterholder.