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Technology Stocks : HWP -- Hewlett Packard -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fred Levine who wrote (2914)	3/2/1999 11:05:00 AM
From: Jody Ritchie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4722

Spinning off the measurement business makes sense to me. Then you would have a measurement company and a computer company. I just wish they'd put out a release. Jody

To: Fred Levine who wrote (2914)	3/2/1999 1:45:00 PM
From: BelowTheCrowd	Respond to of 4722

Fred, It is now clear that Measurement is getting spun off. 15% of the stock will IPO, the rest will be spun off to existing shareholders. Measurement includes the Test and Measurement Division, Medical, and Chemical Analysis equipment. The biggest business there is microwave (cellular) test and monitoring equipment. I still think that hardcopy could do really well on it's own, but there's some logic to keeping the "start to finish" imaging business in house as well. Notable that they're also looking for a new CEO for the computer side, and seemed to imply that they would be looking outside the company. That's another HP first, and signals to me that further changes are likely in the next year. My guess is they'll get somebody from the outside who will have a mission of shaking up HP. Whether or not there are additional spin-offs, it's likely that HP will move more towards a GE-type arrangement, with very independent divisions focusing on their own markets, with their own policies, procedures, etc. Even without the measurement stuff, HP is diverse enough to really require this. In short, I think this is a good deal for all concerned. It is a MAJOR break of tradition, and I believe it signals a willingness to kill other sacred cows which have been holding us back. Downside is that there are a lot of people who probably will NOT like this, and I'm guessing there may be a need for some selective early retirement... mg