November 20, 2012, 2:40 PM —
Hewlett Packard CEO and President Meg Whitman.
REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
Hewlett-Packard's bombshell revelation that it would take a $8.8 billion non-cash writedown after allegedly discovering major accounting fraud related to its Autonomy business unit has rocked the tech world.
- HP to 'seek redress' for alleged Autonomy accounting fraud
But the news, while shocking, could have both positive and negative results, according to who or what's involved. Here's a look at the winners and losers emerging from the rubble of HP's explosive announcement.
The Winners:
Meg Whitman: While HP's announcement bore little good news for the company's bottom line, there's a chance it could end up helping CEO Meg Whitman's image.
"The silver lining here could be her willingness to take a very realistic but also gutsy stand, and call a spade a spade here," said analyst Charles King, president of Pund-IT. "I think that will improve her image or at least provide some cover for the additional time and effort she needs to put into the company."
"Most of the issues confronting HP happened way before her watch," King added. "She has the unenviable job of cleaning out the stables."
Larry Ellison: Somewhere inside one of his many luxurious residences, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison may be rubbing his hands together and cackling with glee at HP's announcement.
There's famously little love lost between the two companies, especially after the ugly legal battle over Oracle's ultimately unsuccessful attempt to stop porting its software to the Itanium-based chips used in HP's high-end servers.
But there's also history between Oracle and Ellison regarding Autonomy and its founder, Mike Lynch. Last year, Oracle claimed that Lynch had shopped his company to Oracle before the HP deal, but Oracle rejected it on grounds Autonomy was overvalued. Lynch denied approaching Oracle, prompting Oracle to issue a statement calling Lynch a liar.