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HP To Be Palm's Silicon Valley Savior in $1B Deal

Hewlett-Packard is entering the smartphone fray with a $1 billion purchase of smartphone pioneer Palm. Palm has been struggling to stand out in a market dominated by Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry, despite recent well-received offerings like the Palm Pre and Pixi. HP says Palm's webOS operating system will help it participate in the arena.  

Palm Inc. a pioneer in the smart phone business that couldn't quite make the comeback it needed, has agreed to be bought out by Hewlett-Packard Co. for about $1 billion in cash.
The companies announced Wednesday that the deal will see HP pay $5.70 for every Palm common share. Palm had closed trading Wednesday at $4.63 but traded as high as $18.09 in the past 52 weeks.

 

When debt is included, the deal values Palm at $1.2 billion.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of July.

Last year Palm unveiled a stylish touch-screen phone, the Pre, that was well reviewed but didn't ring up many sales. Palm struggled to stand out in a market dominated by Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd.

But HP said Palm's webOS operating system , which runs the Pre and the similar Pixi phone, will help it participate more aggressively in the fast-growing market for Internet-connected mobile devices. It also said Palm's current chairman and CEO, former Apple Inc. executive Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.

Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins founded Palm in 1992, and in 1995 it was bought by U.S. Robotics, a modem maker that itself was bought by 3Com Corp. in 1997. Palm spun off again as its own company in 2000.

Wireless Business Solution Zee Tawasha