When Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) acquired Palm in April 2010, the company said that they are planning to “double down” on the webOS operating system. Now that is proving to be a very costly mistake.
Below is an excerpt from HP’s recent earnings statement:
Non-GAAP earnings and operating profit information excludes after-tax costs of $3.3 billion, or $1.56 per diluted share, related to the wind down of HP’s webOS device business, impairment of goodwill and purchased intangible assets, amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.
HP spent $885 million from the impairment of goodwill and $775 million in one-time charges that was related to the wind-down of webOS. That makes it a total of $1.66 billion to wind-down the webOS business.