Confirmed: Xerox has made a bid for HP Inc., even though the latter is three time the size

[Shawn Knight]

Through the looking glass: A merger between the two could make a lot of sense. HP Inc. primarily sells printers and ink while Xerox specializes in the sale and service of copy machines and printers for enterprise clients. Both have experienced dwindling sales as of late due to the increased reliance on mobile devices.

Xerox is reportedly considering purchasing computer and printer maker HP Inc. as part of a cash-and-stock deal that would bring together two tech giants of yesteryear.

Update (11/7): HP Inc. has confirmed that Xerox Holdings has made a takeover offer for a "potential business combination."

What's interesting is that Xerox's market capitalization is about $8 billion, while HP Inc.'s is over $27 billion. Citigroup would reportedly provide financing to Xerox to swallow up the much bigger HP operation. It should be noted that Hewlett-Packard split into two publicly traded companies a few years ago: Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) sells servers, software, storage, networking and associated services, while HP Inc. is dedicated to printers and PCs.

The original story follows below

Sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Xerox’s board discussed the matter during a meeting on Tuesday. The Journal said there is no guarantee that Xerox will follow through with an offer or that it would succeed although CNBC is reporting that Xerox has already put an offer on the table.

Share value in HP Inc. is up 11.58 percent on the news while Xerox stock is trading up 1.54 percent as of writing.

Of interest is the fact that HP Inc. is a much larger venture than Xerox with a market cap of around $30 billion compared to Xerox’s $8.2 billion cap. Also of note is the fact that HP Inc. CEO Dion Weisler stepped down from his helm in August to tend to an unspecified family health matter.

Xerox is expecting to bring in roughly $2.3 billion from the sale of stakes in joint ventures with Fujifilm Holdings Corp. Sources also say the copier maker has secured an informal funding commitment from a major bank to cover the rest of the deal.

According to the Journal, the two businesses could save about $2 billion through layoffs and other synergies.

Image credit: Photocopier by Eakrin Rasadonyindee

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https://www.techspot.com/news/82653-xerox-reportedly-considering-cash-stock-offer-hp-inc.html

 

[Uncle Al]

As long as it is managed by Xerox it could be a great deal for the computer world, but if HP has the lead I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole (my uncle makes 11 foot poles for this).

 

[texasrattler]

HP couldnt be the lead as they are the ones being bought. Xerox would have all the say.

This would be the biggest thing for Xerox since basically giving away what would become Windows and the mouse.

 

[p51d007]

LOL, I've been in the photocopier, printer, scanner, fax business for almost 40 years. When the Galaxy Note 8 "blew up", Samsung was hard up for cash. HP, wanted to get into the A3 size (11x17) copier/printer end, and bought up the Samsung copier division. "HP/Samsung" still makes the Same Samsung photocopiers, but put their HP control panel GUI, drivers etc on it. Now, Xerox is making a play for HP?
I don't buy it. Sounds like someone is wanting to inflate the stock price. Then, you read the wall street guy Carl Ichon is in on it too? That's the same guy who bought up TWA, then sold it off piece by piece to make a buck.

 

[Hardware Geek]

The article says an offer has been placed and both stocks are up, HP specifically by over 11%. Somebody it's going to make a ton of money off of this and the merger won't happen. Nothing fishy about that at all.

 

[Dyson Parkes]

Xerox buying HP... uses a Ricoh as the image.

Well done.

 

[Jimster480]

Xerox buying HP... uses a Ricoh as the image.

Well done.

Lmao I thought it was a Ricoh when I saw the image. Glad to see someone else saw it and confirmed it

 

[Dyson Parkes]

Lmao I thought it was a Ricoh when I saw the image. Glad to see someone else saw it and confirmed it

I mean... I work on Ricoh devices. It'll be interesting to see what effect this has (if any) on the NZ market for copiers.

 

[captaincranky]

....[ ]....I don't buy it. Sounds like someone is wanting to inflate the stock price. Then, you read the wall street guy Carl Ichon is in on it too? That's the same guy who bought up TWA, then sold it off piece by piece to make a buck.

This sounds suspiciously like the plot to, "Pretty Woman". (**) Perhaps we should sic Julia Roberts on him, to tentatively change his outlook on hostile takeovers...

(**) Although in that movie, Richard Gere's target was a shipbuilding concern.