There is still time to cancel Autonomy purchase
Autonomy should remain autonomous.
The planned purchase of Autonomy by Hewlett Packard was part of Léo Apotheker’s plans to remake HP into a company more like SAP, which Apotheker used to run. Now that he’s out of HP, why should HP close its purchase of Autonomy? What is HP going to do with Autonomy the company?
This is going to spell the end of Autonomy. It might take five years, but this purchase will mark the beginning of the end. I say this not even knowing much about what Autonomy makes — but it doesn’t really matter what they make. These huge software deals are fraught with risk and trouble, and now that the guy that wanted Autonomy is unemployed, what’s the point?
Sure there might be a huge breakup fee to be paid to back out of buying Autonomy. But I’m sure the fee is less than USD $10B+, the reported cash purchase price of Autonomy.
Here’s an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing some of the silliness around this deal.
