Stocks: (MSFT)(HPQ)(DELL)
Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard have announced that the will start a large joint venture into which they will invest $300 million. The purpose of the program is to sell their hardware and software to very large corporate customers by planning to "work together to develop, test, validate or ensure that products conform to standards and deploy new products", according to Reuters. Microsoft says the opportunity exceeds $50 billion, which is abouy half the size of HP’s entire revenue.
It is somewhat difficult to see what the two companies will accomplish together that they would not do on their own. But, the larger issue is how other MSFT partners like Dell, Lenovo, and Acer will react to being pushed to the back of the bus.
It can’t make them happy.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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