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Hewlett Packard Implodes After Disclosing Accounting Fraud At Autonomy plc Business
That Hewlett Packard would miss results (it did, with revenues coming at $30.0 billion on expectations of $30.4 billion, guiding Q1 ESP $0.68-$0.71 on expectations of $0.85) is no surprise to anyone who had followed the stock, and/or seen the recent dump of half of Seth Klarman's stake in the name (as was pointed out here previously). What was not only surprising, but shocking is that as part of its earnings announcement, HPQ took a $8.8 billion impairment charge to intangibles and earnings, primarily as a result of what it said was "serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentations at Autonomy Corporation plc that occurred prior to HP's acquisition of Autonomy and the associated impact of those improprieties, failures and misrepresentations on the expected future financial performance of the Autonomy business over the long-term." As a reminder, HPQ bought Autonomy plc for $10.3 billion in August 2011. We now learn that anywhere between 50% and 80% of this purchase price was based on meaningless numbers and fraud. $10.3 billion is also about 40% of what HPQ's market cap will be when the stock opens down at least 10%. And this is how one destroys shareholder value. One in this case being the company's former CEO Leo Apotheker, whose executive decisions and lack of diligence have left the company in a state of complete disaster. What was Leo's punishment for his brief tenure on top of HPQ and swath of absolute value destruction? $25,000,000 in all in comp.
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If your gonna buy HP.....make sure you get the extended warranty.
what is a derrivative play on this, as in who depends on HP
Fuck, now my HP-28 black ink is going to cost even more!
but the red ink is on sale
That HP ink cost more than the printer.
"CEO Leo Apotheker, whose executive decisions and lack of diligence have left the company in a state of complete disaster-$25,000,000 in all in comp."
"fucking unions did it"-right wing ZHer
From Leo Apotheker to Meg Whitman = from the frying pan into the fire.
Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard shout "WTFbitchez!!!!" from their graves.
They should turn the quest for HP's next CEO (and COO) into a reality TV show, screening a pool of candidates exclusively from Wal-Mart Greeters.
"Who Wants to Be Hewlett-Packard's Next CEO?"
They could put them on a remote island, and have them compete in feats of enormous athletic and mental strain, to win prizes like Snickers candy bars, pizza & immunity.
and that printer costs more than HPQ
its a value thing
So... This news is good for how big a ramp job?
and, at ~ 6:30 am commodities (oil, PMs) came under extreme attack.
http://finviz.com/forex.ashx
Just a little payback for yesterday.....fair is fair.
Waiting to hear the amount of the forthcoming bonuses.
-1
GetZeeGold:
" If your gonna buy HP.....make sure ... "
Marked down for not even an inkling you tried to use a contraction:
It's YOU'RE not YOUR in the above ...
Crazy Eddie was right in that interview with Laurern Lyster.
Their debt has really started to trade off...It sticks out. Their only saving grace is about $4B in govt contracts...
Wealth creators Bitchez!
France downgrades. HP takes a dump. NASDAQ100 is down one point this morning.
http://bullandbearmash.com/chart/nasdaq100-hourly-gaps-reason-social-mood/
And the markets become a bigger farce that knows no bounds.
Beer time?
Today we salute you. Mr. Market manipulation guy.
(Mr. Market manipulation guy!)
Buying AAPL, NFLX, and UST puts, but still have time to troll on ZH.
(MDB is my hero!)
Sure it's a tough job, but creating bad market fiction is more than just a job for George Lucas.
(Han still shot first!)
You demonstrate your dedication and efficiency by squeezing shorts in the market and by watching tranny porn.
(Don't forget to wash that hand!)
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Market manipulation guy because we know that ramps only go one way - until YOU decide they don't.
(Miieeesttterrr Maaarrkeeettt Manniuppuplaation Guuuuyyieeeee!)
"And the markets become a bigger farce that knows no bounds."
That's the problem with computers and algos... it knows all about price but nothing about value. And has no shame for the blatant ignorance.
Sadly, I see negative news for HPQ will give rise to AAPL's price today - especially with HPQ saying that the PC market is still struggling.
Hope I am wrong.
Which means Samsung is gonna jack the price of components.
'bout freakin time.
Have you seen the sox index lately? component prices MUST rise sometime in the next decade -
and all the numbnuts who have been walking around with virtually free handheld devices that 20 years ago would have been deemed supercomputers will suddenly be very appreciative....
in this market, "everything is the opposite of what it shall be"...
it's designed to strip-mine assets....
....don't play tawse
HPQ is currently in the process of firing 27,000 employees, as someone has to pay for the massive errors of the C-suite, accountants, lawyers and i-bankers, who all walked away from Autonomy deal with handsome pay-outs (i-bankers made what ......in excess of $30mm in fees on deal).
In other news anyone know where i can send my resume to get an 11 month $25mm job where all i have to do is destroy $30 BILLION in market cap.
K/F has always had a knack for those kind of placements
AAPL. They lost $160B in three months
I'm sure they'd appreciate anything you could donate to them.
Hi Lizzy-
I hear agents of the Rothchilds are well compensated...try applying there...I think you apply here:
33 Liberty Street New York, NY 10045
apply for any of the positions that supposedly did any due diligence pre-closing
Who the FUCK is John Galt?
Where is John Galt?
I called the UN and France......he's not there.
well if you had half a brain you'd realize that its always the unions fault, i learned that from the many genius posters on the twinkie story. Management always gets what it deserves, always
Whatever you think about the moral and ethical value of unions, they ALWAYS destroy economic value. It's an iron law of free-market economics.
Management, on the other hand, can either create value or destroy value, depending on the quality of the individuals involved.
There are a lot more effective business managers in the world than ineffective managers. Just about every company that was ever built was built by a management team that was at least marginally competent. Bad managers are drawn into large, successful organizations because that's the only place they can hide; they are quickly exposed in smaller, or marginally successful businesses.
all i know is that "management" has destroyed the basic system we live in. Lying just about everything they could think of, and when it blew up in their face we bailed them out with all "our" money. Unions serve a purpose, working 12 hour days in steel mills was prob a living nightmare, along with living in tenemants that house how many people in one room. Unions are a tool of the many against the greedy to ask for a basic standerd of living.
Why don't you re-read what I wrote, but this time read for comprehension.
Hugely bullish. This means there's even MORE monies on the sidelinez just WAITING to scoop up BARGAINS like 2,700 PE-ratio Amazon.
You arent suggesting there fundamental problems at Amazon are you?
The rot in this nation runs deeper than all the criminal syndicate Wall Street bankers running around computer arbitraging stocks. It runs deep through the American corporate culture, where quarterly reports are elaborate lies, and dark pools are hired to turn those lies into millions of dollars for said liars.
One can dream that the dirt on Wall Street could someday be cleaned up, but when one realizes that the rot runs deep through all of big business, it gets much harder to understand how we could ever turn America's broken morality in the right direction.
Good luck out there, future flesh-eating zombies.
Most people assume they will still be a human survivor in the zombie apocalypse. Odds are, you will be a zombie. Best to start stockpiling brains now and begin working on your zombie skills--And buy a bolt on kevlar helmet.
Does it mean at some point in our futures we will have a close encounter with Lollipop Chainsaw?
Reminds me of a song - Statistician's Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUK6zjtUj00
Apparently , fraud is only bullish when a lot of whales make money from it. Swindling by a few underlings is frowned upon.
They paid $8 bill too much. How many $Bill too much did they pay for Compaq?
This is the old transfer of wealth ploy. You ain't seen nothing till Obammy gets going.
Actually 9B too much and that's probably being very kind accounting for
the remaining pile of junk HP is left with:-)
they took a page out of the AOL/time warner deal.....it you ain't got it, spend it!
"Fraud never sleeps."
Seems to be both rampant and rampantly ignored by the DOJ and the SEC.
don't worry NOV, "our boys" are on it...lol
...and corporate fraud is a proven moneymaker in amerika
Bernanke badger don't care...
Operation "bonus pool ramp-o-thon" remains a go!
Damned glad I unloaded this POS in the 40s!
THe Board should go to prison.
Best Buy showing some good numbers not
In December 2005 Autonomy acquired Verity, Inc., one of its main competitors, for approximately US$500m.[6] In 2005 Autonomy also acquired Neurodynamics.[7]
In May 2007, after exercising an option to buy a stake in technology start up Blinkx Inc, and combining it with its consumer division, Autonomy floated Blinkx on a valuation of $250m.[8]
In July 2007 it acquired Zantaz, an email archiving and litigation support company, for $375m.[9]
In October 2007 Autonomy acquired Meridio Holdings Ltd, a UK company based in Northern Ireland that specialised in Records Management software, for £20m.[10]
In January 2009 it acquired Interwoven, a niche provider of enterprise content management software, for $775m.[11] Interwoven became Autonomy Interwoven and Autonomy iManage.
In June 2010 the company announced that it was to acquire the Information Governance business of CA Technologies. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.[12]
On 5 May 2011 the Mercedes GP Formula One team announced an $8 million sponsorship deal with Autonomy, and on 8 July 2010 Tottenham Hotspur FC announced a two year sponsorship deal with Autonomy for their Premier League kit.[13][14] For the 2011-12 season Spurs' Premier League shirt will feature Autonomy's Augmented Reality technology Aurasma.[15]
An Extended Dot CON tear-jerker.
I knew some of these people.
Huge scam. Everyone knew what was/is involved. No way a company like HP did not have the smarts to do enough due diligence.
Disgusting. This is because the IT space is filled and "managed" by the same secret-handshaking Masonic brotherhood that every other so called enterprise is peopled with at the top.
ori
Sociopaths. The upper echelon of every corporation, government agency, academic institution and political party; our elected officials and the lobbyists who write their legislation, a vast majority of all of these people are sociopaths. It's a self selecting set of personality traits that allow these people to rise to their position.
Spot on krid. It (sociopathy) is a much desired trait in modern day management.
Al by design. All going down.
ori
I go back and forth on the "by design" piece, but I suppose it doesn't really matter. I like having this conversation with the uninitiated because it's something people can get their arms around. Trying to explain debt money and the exponential function is a bit more challenging.
When the world relies on sources of 'capital' that have no scarcity, this is the only result possible. CB designed, bankster aligned.
Crime pays.
"It's a self selecting set of personality traits that allow these people to rise to their position."
yup. I call 'em "the sharp elbows crowd"
Sociopathic personalities with marginal business management skills are drawn to large bureaucratic organizations because it is easy not just to hide in them, but thrive in them. Translating an individual's performance into actual bottom-line results is almost impossible; therefore, politics is the functional skill set that is rewarded. Politics, as we know, is an exercise in pure sociopathology.
Intersting timeline: No doubt Mike Lynch is a very capable and savvy software guy - but I never understood for one second how the business could a) gernerate its claimed revenues b) gain such lofty valuation. All too easy with hindsight - good old accounting fraud.
I wait with baited breath for ciminal prosecutions.....silly me.
Should be a lawyer fest though, HP will surely sue Autonomys directors and Auditors. Wonder what the UK gov will do if the USA seeks extradition of Mike Lynch & Sushovan Hussain (CFO) - hand them over without hesitation....thats what normaly happens when uncle Sam says jump, the UK says `how high`?
If I was in line to be accused of wrongdoing I would be very worried - how tempting it will be for the US to make a big scapegoat of a foreign company and its direcors / auditors. Perhaps they got it covered with some prescient campaign `contributions` though.
"luckily" for the UK-ites, they have the case of the kid who broke into DARPA/USMIL Space command server to fall back upon (Gary McKinnon).
And it's not about smarts. The trouble is that they specifcally choose smart sociopaths.
ori
yes, and who in their right mind would argue that Gary McKinnon should have faced extradition. He is still behind bars though....which serves no useful purpose.
A quick google for Mike Lynch does bring up photos of him rubbing shoulders with grinning UK politicians of every stripe though.
Also a very public spat with Larry Ellison of Oracle who has quite publicly called and proved him to be a lier. Ellison must be in a spectacularly good mood this morning!
Larry's face must be cracked from perpetual grinning laughter after seeing this announced. Maybe Oracle will buy HP for pennies on the dollar like they did Sun. At this rate that day won't be long in coming.
There was an article about wall street specifically recruiting for these traits. But it's not quite so transparent. What they do is they identify their most successful traders. Of course the most "successful" traders likely lie, steal and cheat, but on paper, they are killing it. The will then profile these traders, quite scientifically. Hundreds and hundreds of questions... Think the old school Myers Briggs, but on steroids and HGH. The create the composite "type" and recruit to it. It's all very cold and clinical... And very real. And it works.
Highly, highly Recommended: All the parts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rXkntu5qTU&feature=relmfu
ori
"and it works"
indeed, it works, is admired, is emulated, and over time, there's your "culture" in action. . .
smart posts here.
Cui Bono?
Sounds like a corporate buddy deal.
Remember Cisco's purchase of nearly "zero sales" Andiamo? Total insider job to enrich Cisco employees that had walked across the hall, put out a sign and declared themselves a start-up. It was a joke. Rumor was that all the "ex-Crescendo" switch guys were still steamed that they had worked at Cisco for years and never got the crazy payday that the Cerent guys got when they divied up $7 billion.....so they said, "hey- what if we say we are a start-up, do what we would have done anyway, create a new product, and then screw the shareholders and make them pay twice for us - once to do our job, and again to purchase what they already own for a stupid price?."
There was not one journalist who touched this theft. How this is legal is beyond me. Cisco shareholders are idiots for remaining quiet and have been punished as the stock has virtually flat-lined since then. Oh, but those hundred or so insiders are giddy, divvying up their 2.5 billion. Even the management of Cisco carved off some equity for themselves in that transaction. WTFU people. Corporate America treats shareholders like the silent idiots that they typically are.
This HP deal reaks of a similar outcome...only not an insider job....just between friends.
Cui Bono.
Remember Buffet's guy buying stock in the company they were going to acquire? Oh, just a mistake....
My Grandad was born in 1900. After witnessing the financial raping of shareholders in the 30's, he never bought another share of stock ever.....he died rich, too. Had his own business, put all profits into his own business and anything else was invested in bank CD's. He told me in the 80's that the stock market was a scam.
We will see that attitude within the next few years. It is one big cycle...
Your Granddad rode upon interest rates in the 70's that payed out at anywhere from 10-15% percent depending on the time. Mine did the same in addition to buying low and selling high on farmland during the same time. I should know, because I did the same thing. It got me through seven years of college and two degrees with no debt at the end and money left over. Of course this was back when your money actually had a chance to work for you if you worked hard and saved. Not so much today.
I'm getting about 4% rent on my farmland. Zero operational cost. Virtually no taxes and I get some very good game hunting on it. Not a bad deal. And it can't be rehypothecated, bitchez.
My folks get that plus proceeds from harvest. When the zombie apocalypse comes they'll have seed and good dirt, a man's gotta eat no matter what.
Biter - this is a common tactic in Silicon Valley and has been going on for years
Executives at an established company get buddies to start a "new" and "innovative" start-up that tweaks an existing technology.
Big brother company puts in $10M in funding, three years later they buy the start-up for $300 M with borrowed money or their companies excess cash.
Everyone gets rich and paid-off. BTW - the new innovative technology rarely amounts to revenue - just a big scam. (I am looking for investors)
Rinse-repeat-recycle.
Only in America. Got to love it.
I know. I was just hopeful that the Cisco example would shine a light for the sheeple. The literally never even left the building. At least in other examples there is a chance for competitive bidding or even, gasp, failure. I got the blinders ripped off my face in the 80's in silicon valley, so I've "been around." It just makes you sick when you see 'tards succedd and all they have done is manipulate.
Why is it ok for the banks to falsify their earnings and not HP?
It is good to know that all those former employees of Aurthur Anderson found work after Enron imploded.
Who was the accounting firm that missed this?
I green arrowed myself because Tyler answered my question in the next column :P
Corporate boards are a criminal joke. These outfits get all the benefits and power, dump on the average guy and walk away with millions and no accountability. I hope they have all arranged a nice getaway out of the country and a private way to get there.
Another reason to buy by Dell...
Do you mean 'buy' Dell or do you mean 'bye bye' Dell?
Because Dell is clean? I used to think that fraud was more of the exception, not the rule. Silly me. I buy stuff that I need, some stuff that I don't, but have no brand allegiance because I assume that every corporation is corrupt. By local, when possible, from people you know.
;-)
Dell is a bigger scam than HP. They're a bank masquerading as a PC vendor.
I can't believe Seth Klarman owned this hunk of shit, he's smarter than that.
Woman CEOs often seem to get handed a collapse in progress. When I see a fallgirl coming, I don't hang around.
Yeah, and the funny thing is, this has happened not once but twice at HP.
I am a big fan of Seth Klarman - his record matches (or is better than) that of Warran Buffett. In a recent video, Klarman said he's not as hands on. Did some junior staff pitch HP?
Since when is fraud a crime? Somebody stop the regulators before they implode the economy.
Ya can't prosecute fraud for the same reason you can't tax the top 0.0001% of income earners.
It would be class warfare.
Q. How bad are things at HP?
A. They are going back in time to find the smartest person they know for help. Carly Fiorina.
Their Laptops are total shite - never buying HP ever again.
I made that decision after the Compaq deal. The top got $$$$ - the bottom got screwed.
No HP for me!!
Notch up another one for the job creators, but you can take the concept of creative destruction only so far....
LOL, Financial Times Deutschland reports that the stock is down 10 percent plus because they missed their revenue targets. Nothing about that dark hole they discovered.
Hm, let's see Apotheker, Madoff, Corzine, Milken and on and on. What do these greedy unscrupulous corporate thieves have in common?
Could it be that they are FUCKING JEWS?
Yep. Figures.
No, they signed up for the "Greed is good" program...
Take your bigotry elsewhere, preferably to your gulch where you will not be missed...
^^^Jew^^^
^^^MORAN^^^
^^^Another Jew^^^
Well right now we are winning so suck it you ineffective goy.
He's not really an antisemite, he's just jealous of their success. Heh.
It happens.
You don't know where I have been Lou!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XGAxc4EGi4
You don't know where I have been...
Lou was a pussy.
Hee, hee, hee.... Accusing someone having my avatar of being a Jew...
You are truly an ignorant fool....
Did you only show up at the Hedge when your latest issue of Aryan Nation got lost in the mail?
They are greedy unscrupulous corporate thieves?
It's gotta be nice to be a chosen member of the tribe. He's probably still counting his severance loot.
HP products & services: Over-packaged, Over-bundled, Overly-complex.....
200mb print drivers that corrupt any other installed HP printers,
Scanner software so fragile it might work... once.
Driver upgrades we've learned never to trust.
All indicative of an UNDISCIPLINED company.
Hmm, that Company would be Microsoft...
I once ordered a CD disk from HP. It arrived in a box a cubic foot in size and packed with bubble wrap. What the hell?
Once again put your company logo on a premier jersey and the fraud is not far from being found out. It truly is the worlds greatest indicator.
That, or buying naming rights to a pro sports stadium. Really an almost foolproof way of making money on the short side.
"...former CEO Leo Apotheker, whose executive decisions and lack of diligence have left the company in a state of complete disaster. What was Leo's punishment for his brief tenure on top of HPQ and swath of absolute value destruction? $25,000,000 in all in comp."
Can we officially name this particular scam "RE-APOTHEKATION?"
His plan from the start was to loot and gut the company. They make business machines and hardware. All of a sudden they want to be a cloud based software company?
Fucking assholes.
HP = Half Price
$25,000,000 comp
My chicken shit interest income looks chicken shittier every day.
Hory Phuck
I thought Fraud was an accepted business practice today. The banksters wouldn't exist without it
Let the buyer beware.
Whatever the frig happened to prosecuting FRAUD? Joe Blow 6 Pack signs a credit card application stating hes in the 6 Digit club, goes buy buy with his new Credit Card backed by bingo bux, then found out hes Average Joe with a 1 Pack in the 5 Digit Club. Now goes Bye Bye for 6-12 months for Fraud. These POS CEOs commit Grand Theft Global and they keep their stealings and comps???
Fundamental Technology: 170 Patents IDOL is built upon the seminal mathematical works of Thomas Bayes and Claude Shannon.
Autonomy IDOL 10 provides a single processing layer that allows organizations to form a conceptual understanding of 100 percent of information, both inside and outside the enterprise. Based on Autonomy’s Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL), the platform uses patented probabilistic algorithms to automatically recognize concepts and ideas expressed in all forms of information. Leveraging NoSQL (Not Only SQL) technology, IDOL 10 enables enterprises to simultaneously understand and act upon documents, emails, video, chat, phone calls, and application data moving across networks, the web, the Cloud, smartphones, tablets, and sensors.
As the information processing layer, IDOL forms a conceptual and contextual understanding of all content in an enterprise, automatically analyzing any piece of information from over 1,000 different content formats and even people's interests. Over 500 complex information centric operations can be performed on digital content by IDOL, including hyperlinking, agents, summarization, taxonomy generation, clustering, eduction, profiling, alerting and retrieval.
Tin foil comment: Now who, we wonder, would be interested in such technology, and the patent? Sometimes, that extra $8,000,000,000 is a nod and a wink from people in Camp Williams... There was even a job posting looking for exactly this type of solution out there.
Don't Big Bro me!
HPQ was fool enough to assign an Ashkenazi Jew as their CEO and now is on the verge of becoming a triangle company of the international bankers. Leo was sent in to take it down, and a fine job he did! Rewarded well for his efforts!
Employees of HPQ, look out... It will be more than layoffs. Expect a change to a fascist culture (you must provide 2 forms of ID for all members included on your health plan that your company administers itself, but at a higher rate than outside plans)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WayXlru5gJk
I had to show photo ID to get a colonscopy, but not to vote. I know it was a test, but it's not like it was the SAT!
Due diligence, WTF is that?
Remember, the government is the enemy. The great corporations are pure defenders of the holy marketplace. Surely we can trust AAPL, HP, and IBM to feed the poor, clean up the environment, and enforce fair labor standards. We know that profit maximization leads to the greatest good for the smallest number, so why shouldn't our society flourish with government drowned in the bath tub and the corporations given free reign. What Enron did should be a goal for all corporations, not a crime. Let the winners rule!
We'd never have the great products HP has brought to market if there weren't a little fraud here and there. And look at all the jobs they've created!
Hey moron. The government, the banks, and the giant multinational corporations are all exactly the same thing: giant, unaccountable bureaucracies run by sociopaths. Take your stupid game someplace else.
Must not over tax job creators.
Must over pay executives and CEO's for runinng companies into ground.
Must inflate shares of stock by bad accounting.
Must sell all stock before shareholders and employees find out.
Must not forget golden parachute to put final nail in coffin of company.
Actually large companies are job eliminators. The data is well established. The job creators are in small business and they are over taxed. Most of the time their businesses fail and they lose money without government recompense. If, at some stage, they succeed and start making a reasonable return for their risk and investment, the government wants a large swag of it and Obama wants even more. Goodbye to job creators.