Samsung Sets the Record Straight, Says It's Uninterested in HP's PC Business
Hewlett Packard is shopping for a buyer to take its PC business off its hands, and there has been plenty of speculation as to which company might swoop in. One name that keeps coming up is Samsung, but that's now looking less likely than ever since Samsung CEO Geosing Choi said his company isn't interested.
"To put to rest any speculation on the issue, I would like to definitively state that Samsung Electronics will not acquire Hewlett Packard's PC business," Choi wrote in a note to Wired.com.
His written rhetoric doesn't leave much wriggle room for further speculation, so it's safe to take Samsung out of the running (although nothing would surprise us anymore after all the big headlines in tech the past couple of weeks). Choi further explained his reason for shrugging off the notion of acquiring HP's PC business, stating that the two companies are worlds apart.
"Hewlett Packard is the global leader in the PC business with sales of 40 million units last year, while Samsung is an emerging player in the category and sold about 10 million units in 2010," Choi said. "Based on the significant disparity in scale with Samsung’s own PC business and the complete lack of synergies, it would be both infeasible and imprudent to even consider such an acquisition."
Choi actually undersold HP's PC business a bit, which was responsible for shipping 64 million units in 2010. Samsung, meanwhile, has hopes of increasing its PC sales by 70 percent, Wired.com reports, though apparently it wants to do it the old fashioned way by selling rather than acquiring.
"To put to rest any speculation on the issue, I would like to definitively state that Samsung Electronics will not acquire Hewlett Packard's PC business," Choi wrote in a note to Wired.com.
His written rhetoric doesn't leave much wriggle room for further speculation, so it's safe to take Samsung out of the running (although nothing would surprise us anymore after all the big headlines in tech the past couple of weeks). Choi further explained his reason for shrugging off the notion of acquiring HP's PC business, stating that the two companies are worlds apart.
"Hewlett Packard is the global leader in the PC business with sales of 40 million units last year, while Samsung is an emerging player in the category and sold about 10 million units in 2010," Choi said. "Based on the significant disparity in scale with Samsung’s own PC business and the complete lack of synergies, it would be both infeasible and imprudent to even consider such an acquisition."
Choi actually undersold HP's PC business a bit, which was responsible for shipping 64 million units in 2010. Samsung, meanwhile, has hopes of increasing its PC sales by 70 percent, Wired.com reports, though apparently it wants to do it the old fashioned way by selling rather than acquiring.
