Hewlett-Packard has taken another significant step into the cloud and software space with its acquisition of the UK-based company Autonomy for £7 billion.
Under the deal, HP will purchase all outstanding Autonomy shares for £25.50 per share in cash, marking a clear strategic shift away from its traditional hardware focus. While some analysts questioned whether HP paid too much, Hewlett-Packard’s Chief Executive Officer, Leo Apotheker, defended the transaction.
In a press statement Apotheker said, “We’re buying a very strong business. We believe we can extract a lot more from Autonomy by combining it with Hewlett-Packard. That’s the rationale for the price.”
Autonomy’s co-founders, Mike Lynch and Richard Gaunt, described the deal as a milestone for the company: “This is a momentous day in Autonomy’s history. From our foundation in 1996, we have been driven by one shared vision: to fundamentally change the IT industry by revolutionising the way people interact with information. HP shares this vision and provides Autonomy with the platform to bring our world-leading technology and innovation to a truly global stage, making the shift to a future age of the information economy a reality.”
Founded in Cambridge in 1996, Autonomy has grown into a global leader in enterprise infrastructure software, serving more than 25,000 customers across corporations, law firms, and public sector organizations. The acquisition underscores HP’s broader strategy of moving beyond traditional hardware into software, services, and cloud-based infrastructure delivery.
By integrating Autonomy’s advanced information-management technology with HP’s scale and global reach, the company aims to accelerate its transition to higher-margin software and services, enhance its cloud offerings, and provide customers with more comprehensive solutions for managing and extracting value from their information.
HP’s purchase of Autonomy reflects a wider industry trend in which longstanding hardware vendors expand into software and cloud services to capture new revenue streams and adapt to changing customer demands. If successfully integrated, this acquisition could strengthen HP’s position in enterprise software and help it compete more effectively with established software and cloud providers.
For Autonomy, joining HP offers access to an extensive global platform to scale its technologies and deliver innovations to a broader customer base. Together, the two companies aim to accelerate the adoption of information-centric computing and support organizations navigating the transition to an information-driven economy.