Hewlett-Packard has dismissed a media report by the Chinese-language Commercial Times in Taiwan that said the company might sell its PC business. The article claimed that Samsung was the most likely buyer and noted that a deal was called off earlier for unknown reasons.
"Irresponsible reporting by Taiwan's Commercial Times, suggesting that HP might sell its PC business, should be dismissed as market rumor and speculation," Bill Wohl, HP senior vice president and chief communications officer, said in a statement. "HP runs the world's largest PC business and it is core to HP's strategy for the connected world."
This is an odd bit of news for at least two reasons. The first is obvious: HP has been doing quite well recently and is much too big for a sale, even to Samsung. The company even recently announced that it plans to put webOS on all of its PCs next year.
Secondly, most tech companies, especially larger corporations such as HP, will never issue such a statement. Almost every time you contact such a company's PR department, they will turn you down, saying that they do not comment on rumors or speculation. Very rarely, they will give a brief statement to you, but HP here took the initiative and gave a statement before most even saw the original report.
In short, HP does not look like a company interested in selling itself, nor does it look like a business worried about its image to the point that it has to smack down reports. Either way, in case you were doubtful, HP is here to stay.