HP coughs up $100 MEEELLION to settle Autonomy lawsuit

HP has coughed up $100m (£65m) to settle its legal dispute with a Dutch pension fund over its massive $8.8bn (£5.6bn) Autonomy write-down. HP confirmed today that it has entered into a settlement agreement with PGGM Vermogensbeheer, the lead plaintiff in the securities class action arising from the impairment charge taken by …

[Fatman]

HP pays out

This only goes to reinforce my belief that HP actually stands for

Hopelessly

Pathetic.

So, did I choose the correct icon for this post? Or would this one be more appropriate:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/joke_32.png

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: HP pays out

"While HP believes the action has no merit, it is desirable and beneficial to HP and its shareholders to resolve settle the case as further litigation would be burdensome and protracted,"

Couldn't even manage to resolve settle the wording of their own press release on the subject. Diligence? Doubt they can spell it. Scant evidence of even basic competence.

[ToddR]

No blame accepted might equal $10Million, but not $100Million.

HP = Muppets

[Anonymous Coward]

Another mass cull of staff to balance the books, especially with the split looming.

[Anonymous Coward]

"No individual is contributing to the settlement. HP and its current and former officers, directors, and advisors will be released from any Autonomy-related securities claims as part of the settlement,"

Translation:

Fair cop. 'ere's a hundred thousand grand. Not a word eh? You ain't even seen me right. Take the missus for a nice dinner eh? Cushdy.

[auburnman]

A payoff of this size is surely just blood in the water isn't it? Practically begging for more lawsuits while at the same time looking guilty as sin. You can't look at a settlement that big and not think something's up.

[Anonymous Coward]

Surely HP are just paying out their loyal shareholders early as they know they will succeed and re-coup billions, possibly even trillions when they win the case against Autonomy?

Can I have another glass of the HP Koolaid - it tastes great.

[asdf]

the hp way long gone

Also don't forget the billions HP will make when the memristor comes out in 2014. Oh wait.

[Michael Wojcik]

Re: the hp way long gone

Also don't forget the billions HP will make when the memristor comes out in 2014. Oh wait.

Yup. HP's messiah component is delayed again.

Of course, some IT technologies have taken a long time to mature, and then became commonplace. LCD screens, for example - TFT was invented in '74, but we didn't have good IPS-based color LCD screens for another 22 years. Now they're everywhere. Or flash memory: Toshiba introduced NOR flash commercially in '94, but it took another 11 years for NAND-flash removable memory products to appear. Again, they're now ubiquitous.

But more often, these much-heralded technologies stumble along for a while but never become more than niche products. And NV memory certainly has its share of losers - remember bubble memory? HP's memristor chips sound good on paper, but until they have usable product available it's hard to be optimistic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting Away With It

The point of the $100m is to stop any exec in HP (past or present) being held accountable for their major mess up on Autonomy. Its shareholders money not the execs, but hey ho, these people (almost) never find themselves paying for their mistakes...

[Anonymous Coward]

If I understand right HP are compensating a small group of shareholders for the erosion of value by handing over a settlement which will erode even further the value for their other shareholders.

I don't see that this can possibly end here.

[Anonymous Coward]

HP are certainly taking the sauce here

I wonder if the people they (HP) are suing over this can use this as a precident to say

'They knew they made a business cock-up. See how they have paid off investors...'

I get the feeling that I'd better take my pension NOW while there are still funds in the pot. They might not be there in a years time.

[Anonymous Coward]

This answers IMHO a fairly basic question

"Where did the responsibility for this cockup lie?"

I think HP would continue to fight any payout tooth and nail if they had any confidence in being able to blame someone else for the Autonomy cockup, but the reality is that HP decided to buy, so HP was supposed to do its due diligence to see if what they bought was OK.

That they outsourced this due diligence is secondary, you can't outsource responsibility (well, not quite, if you're corporate security manager without a budget to do your job you *know* you're just there to be sacked when it goes wrong).

I don't like this "paying without admitting guilt" thing much, because to me that simply says that those with the bigger wallets can do the same thing over and over again, all they need to say is "oops, have a cheque" and walk off into the sunset. Not a very good way to enforce laws IMHO, but as I don't live there I may miss something.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

I hate those f**king meerkats!!!!

"HP's insurance will pay $100m to a settlement fund."

I'm guessing that'll put a dent in their no-claims bonus?

[MK11]

You're missing the point

HP directors have used insurance cash to pay off the investors to ensure that they can't be sued for incompetence.

Nice way to ensure that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, no-one can say that the HP (mis)directors were in any way to blame for this cluster****.