Technology giant HP announced on Monday a plan for a $10 billion stock buyback aimed at increasing their price. The company made this decision, under which it will buy back at least $3 billion worth of shares in the fourth quarter, just a few weeks after the shocking resignation of CEO Mark Hurd lowered the value of its shares.
Hurd was forced to resign after a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by a colleague led to revelations of financial irregularities in his expense reports. The company is still searching for his replacement. HP is the largest seller of personal computers in the world and the largest global technology company by revenue. At the end of the last business quarter, it had $17.4 billion in cash and liquid assets. It is currently competing with Dell for a $2 billion acquisition of 3Par, whose data storage technology is a critical component of the cloud computing systems used by large enterprises. (H)
