HP (HPQ) announced it would buy office headset-maker Poly (POLY) for $3.3 billion last week. It’s a big-ticket deal for a company that’s on the lookout for its next chapter.
In recent memory, dealmaking has been inextricably tied to the old guard tech giant and its prospects but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, everything changed. In 2020, Xerox (XRX) withdrew its offer to buy HP after a months-long, TV-worthy drama that involved threats of a hostile takeover, a poison pill plan, and activist investor Carl Icahn.
HP has since pursued its own deals, some of which have been bets on hybrid work. In July 2021, HP bought remote computing software provider Teradici. In the release at the time, HP touted hybrid working-related projections by Fortune Business Insights, which estimated that the remote desktop software segment will grow at a “17% compound annual growth rate through 2028.” more here