Hewlett-Packard splits off PC, printer businesses

NEW YORK — Hewlett-Packard is splitting itself into two companies, one focused on its personal computer and printing business and another on technology services, such as data storage, servers and software, as it aims to drive profits higher.

The company laid off tens of thousands of people in recent years as sales crumbled, with customers shifting to mobile devices like smartphones and computer tablets. That has drastically curbed demand for HP's desktop and laptop computers, as well as its printers.

The company said Monday that the PC and printer business will use the name HP Inc. The services business will be called Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.

HP CEO Meg Whitman will lead the Enterprise business. HP PC and printer chief Dion Weisler will be CEO of HP Inc.

"The decision to separate into two market-leading companies underscores our commitment to the turnaround plan," Whitman said. "It will provide each new company with the independence, focus, financial resources, and flexibility they need to adapt quickly to market and customer dynamics."

Cantor Fitzgerald's Brian White said that there are numerous reasons why HP would want to split the businesses, including the slowdown of the PC market since the iPad debuted in April 2010. While the PC market has shown some improving trends this year, White said in a client note that separating into two companies gives HP the option to sell off one or both businesses if an attractive offer is made.

The split, if approved by the company board, is expected to close by the end of fiscal 2015. Once complete, HP stockholders will own shares of both companies.

During its most recent quarter HP reported revenue of $27.6 billion, a 1 percent annual gain. It marked HP's first year-over-year increase in quarterly revenue since late 2011. Printers and computers contributed 51 percent of the company's quarterly revenue, with the rest coming from technology services like consulting, software and financial programs.

HP is expected to complete the latest round of layoffs, between 11,000 to 16,000 people, this month. That is on top of the 34,000 people it had already jettisoned from its payroll.

Another tech stalwart announced a split this month. In a bid to drive growth, eBay Inc. said it would spin off its mobile payment service PayPal into a separate and publicly traded company. Investors sent eBay shares up more than 7 percent on the day of the announcement.

Jim Suva of Citi Investment Research said that HP's announcement may be coming now partly because the stock market has been supportive of spinoffs of late. The analyst also believes the company's stronger balance sheet, stable PC margins, improving services margins, better financials and completion of the more difficult parts of its restructuring efforts played a role in its decision to act now.

HP maintained its guidance for fiscal 2014 adjusted earnings between $3.70 and $3.74 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of $3.73 per share.

For fiscal 2015, the company anticipates adjusted earnings in a range of $3.83 to $4.03 per share. Wall Street is looking for $3.96 per share.

Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co., based in Palo Alto, California, gained $1.80, or 5.1 percent, to $37 in premarket trading two hours before the market open.

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Wal-Mart plans 1-stop health coverage shopping

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart is taking one-stop shopping to another area: health insurance.

The world's largest retailer plans to work with DirectHealth.com, an online health insurance comparison site and agency, to allow shoppers to compare coverage options and enroll in Medicare plans or the public exchange plans created under the Affordable Care Act.

The strategy is another step into insurance marketing as the retailer tries to use its mammoth size to expand beyond food and other basics at a time of sluggish traffic and sales. It also could help Wal-Mart compete with drugstore chains such as Walgreen and CVS, which are rapidly adding health care services.

Customers can enroll online, by phone or at 2,700 of Wal-Mart's more than 4,000 stores, starting Oct. 10. The stores will be staffed with independent insurance agents from DirectHealth.com.

In April, Wal-Mart teamed up with Autoinsurance.com to let shoppers quickly find and buy insurance policies online. DirectHealth.com and Autoinsurance.com are owned and operated by Tranzutary Insurance Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of Tranzact of Fort Lee, New Jersey, which set up Tranzutary specifically to work with Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart won't receive commissions on health coverage sales and hopes to benefit partly by luring customers into stores. DirectHealth is absorbing most of the costs to operate the program, Labeed Diab, senior vice president and president of Wal-Mart's health and wellness division, told The Associated Press.

Wal-Mart plans to launch a TV, radio and in-store promotions campaign this month.

Since 2005, Wal-Mart has hosted health insurance agents from individual insurers in stores to field questions and enroll customers. But Diab said that with the Affordable Care Act, shoppers found the search for coverage more complicated.

He cited outside research that shows that more than 60 percent of people have difficulty understanding their health insurance options and nearly 40 percent feel they picked the wrong plan after enrollment.

"We saw a greater need to bring more transparency and simplicity," Diab said. He noted the strategy is also part of Wal-Mart's strategy to build business in wellness and health care. But he also is counting on the program to bring more customers to the store.

"The more we can broaden the assortment, the more we can educate our customer, the better off we will be," he added.

As part of Wal-Mart's expansion into health care, it is testing 11 health care clinics run by Wal-Mart itself that offer primary care such as health screenings and management of chronic conditions like diabetes. That's different from its 100 leased health care clinics in its stores that focus on basic services like flu shots.

The health insurance program works this way: For customers over 65, DirectHealth.com offers access to more than 1,700 plans from 12 carriers including Aetna, Cigna, Humana and UnitedHealthcare during the Medicare open enrollment period from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7.

For customers under age 65, DirectHeath.com offers access to thousands of health exchange plans from more than 300 carriers. That open enrollment period is Nov. 15 to Feb. 15.

Customers can compare or enroll over the phone by calling 888-383-2111.

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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Corporate deals set to return to pre-crisis levels

LONDON — In a year that's been awash with multi-billion dollar corporate deals, the number and value of mergers and acquisitions is set to grow further, reaching pre-crisis levels over the coming 12 months, consulting firm EY said Monday.

In its biannual Global Capital confidence barometer, EY said global M&A is on course to return to 2006 levels in the next year thanks to improvements in market conditions. Companies started getting reluctant to do deals in 2007 when the credit crunch really started. The following year's global financial crisis and subsequent recession saw M&A activity come to a near standstill.

However, the appetite for deal-making has picked up over the past couple of years as the world economy has recovered and stock markets, particularly in the U.S., have bounced back on growing confidence about the future. This year has seen a flurry of big announcements, particularly in the U.S., including AT&T's $48.5 billion takeover offer for DirecTV and Facebook's $19 billion bid for WhatsApp.

EY's survey found that 40 percent of companies anticipate pursuing acquisitions in the next 12 months. That's the highest level in three years.

It said the deals will not be confined to big names. In fact, some of the biggest activity will likely come from smaller firms seeking to strengthen their core businesses — it expects a big pick-up in deals valued at $250 million and under.

"Stable asset prices as well as increasing confidence in stability of the global economy are encouraging a more buoyant outlook for M&A," said Pip McCrostie, EY's global head of M&A. "Having experienced many years of volatility, this growing stability provides greater certainty in terms of strategic planning, although executives will continue to closely monitor unfolding geopolitical events."

EY said much of the M&A momentum will come from companies in the U.S., Britain, China, Japan, India and Australia. And the top five target countries are Brazil, China, India, Britain and the U.S. The sectors it found that could see big activity include automotive, technology, life sciences, telecommunications and consumer products

The survey is based on interviews with more than 1,600 senior executives in over 60 countries.

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Global stocks remain supported by US jobs data

SEOUL, South Korea — Global markets were mostly higher on Monday as investors continued to draw confidence from upbeat U.S. jobs data from last week.

KEEPING SCORE: Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.4 percent to 6,555.12 and Germany's DAX advanced 0.9 percent to 9,279.16. France's CAC 40 added 0.3 percent to 4,292.70. Futures augured another cheerful day for U.S. stocks, with futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 up 0.3 percent.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan and Hong Kong rose but the rest of Asia was subdued. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 1.2 percent to 15,890.95 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 1.1 percent to 23,315.04. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.4 percent to 1,968.39 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5 percent to 5,292.90. Markets in mainland China were closed for a holiday.

US HIRES MORE, PAY FLAT: Government data on Friday showed employers added 248,000 jobs in September, beating market expectations. Unemployment fell to a six-year low of 5.9 percent. The Labor Department said hiring in July and August also was stronger than initially estimated. But average hourly wages fell a penny last month. Lack of wage inflation might prompt the Fed to delay raising interest rates from near zero. Many economists expect the Fed to put off a rate hike until mid-2015.

LOWER GERMAN DATA: Trading sentiment in Europe was not affected by another weak economic report. German factory orders dropped 5.7 percent in August from the previous month, worse than the 2.5 percent drop forecast. Analysts blamed weak demand from eurozone markets and uncertainty over Ukraine and the Middle East. Investors, however, remain focused on the U.S. recovery and the stimulus being offered by the European Central Bank.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "On Friday, the U.S. once again showed that it is the best house on what seems to be a slowly deteriorating neighborhood," said Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG Markets. "While Europe is sinking into a stagflation hole, money managers are seeing qualities in the U.S. that stand out by a country mile right now."

WEEK AHEAD: The Fed is due to release minutes on Wednesday of a meeting last month. Investors will be watching for clues about a timetable for rate hikes and discussion surrounding the decision to keep the "considerable time" phrase in its pledge to keep interest rates near zero. Markets will be particularly attentive to signs of "increased hawkishness," said Sebastien Barbe of Credit Agricole.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.30 to $89.70. On Friday, the contract lost $1.26 to settle at an 18-month low of $89.74 per a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 109.35 yen from Friday's 109.80. The euro inched up to $1.2558 from $1.2520.

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Artisan’s Asylum seeks to reinvent mission

The "bang, bang, bang!" in the background at Artisan's Asylum sounds startlingly like gunshots, but Ecco Pierce assures that it's only one of her compatriots at work.

"Your first impression when you walk in here is overstimulation," says Pierce, a 28-year-old multimedia artist. "The place is never quiet. It's never empty. It's a 24-hour establishment inhabited by daytime professionals, evening hobbyists and nighttime fanatics."

Strange, blinking robots hold court alongside fine artists, engineers, welders, woodworkers and other craftsmen, many of whom offer classes in their 150 studio spaces in the old Ames Envelope building in Somerville.

This rapidly growing amalgam of talent began in 2010, when a mechanical engineer and a costume designer were looking for a place where they could make things in their spare time.

The two rented 1,000 square feet in the Taza Chocolate factory and, to keep costs down, invited their friends on Facebook to share the space, expecting a dozen or so to take them up on the offer.

When 100 people showed up at their first meeting, they knew they were on to something.

"We've evolved from being a clubhouse for fun to being a real small-business incubator," said Molly Rubenstein, director of education and outreach. "And we feel like there's a lot of potential to do even more."

MassChallenge, the world's largest startup accelerator, selected Artisan's Asylum and 127 other finalists to compete for a share of more than $1.5 million in cash prizes.

"We're not trying to get to market; we're already here," Rubenstein said. "What we came to MassChallenge looking for was help planning our long-term evolution."

Artisan's Asylum is exploring working with local schools to teach youngsters real-world skills in science, technology, engineering, art and math, or STEAM.

And it wants to expand the training it offers in advanced manufacturing, an industry that will need to fill an estimated 100,000 jobs in the state over the next decade.

"Part of what we want to do is bring back the appeal of being a skilled tradesman," Rubenstein said. "We want to make sure that once you have a prototype, you don't send it over to China to be manufactured when it can be made right here."

Artisan's Asylum is "one of a very small number of pioneers in the maker space" qualified to provide that kind of training, and it's looking for potential partners who can help it scale nationally and internationally, said Mark Allio, a MassChallenge mentor and regional director of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center at UMass Boston.

"I think they have a pretty clear vision of the value they add," Allio said, "and MassChallenge could help them expand to have an even bigger impact."

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Anchorage asks court to stop ride-sharing company

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage is taking court action to stop ride-sharing company Uber from operating in the city.

The city requested an injunction and a temporary restraining order against Uber Technologies Inc. in civil superior court on Friday, KTUU (http://bit.ly/1pPqb62) reported.

Uber provides a smartphone app that allows people to order rides in privately driven cars instead of taxis.

The entry into the transportation marketplace by companies like Uber and Lyft has left legislators and local officials struggling to catch up with emerging technology that competes with traditional taxis and limos, but with less overhead. The drivers of the new companies, for example, use their personal cars and often do it for extra cash to supplement their income at other jobs.

A handful of state legislatures this year have tried and failed to pass bills to provide oversight for the so-called ridesharing companies. Taxi and limo companies have objected, arguing the web-based businesses have an unfair advantage and light regulation. Several municipalities nationwide are also grappling with the issue.

The service launched in Anchorage just over two weeks ago.

Uber didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Anchorage's action that was made through its website on Saturday.

The city declined to comment on the municipality's filing. But Alaska Yellow Dispatch CEO Sloane Unwin said the local cab company plans to add its name to the request for an injunction.

The city did exactly what it should do to uphold its laws, Unwin said.

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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com

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Robots to learn from Nurses

On the labor and delivery floor of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, about 20 so-called ninja nurses use their sixth sense to efficiently assign staff and resources to patients to make sure everyone gets the care and attention they need.

Now, a doctor and an Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor are teaming up to use their medical and robotics expertise to improve how machines work with humans, and make hospitals a bit better in the process.

"What we're aiming to do is learn from people who are outstanding at these resource allocation jobs and potentially teach a machine," said Julie Shah, the professor who leads the Interactive Robotics group at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.

Shah and her husband Neel Shah, an obstetrician at Beth Israel, will spend the next two years learning from these "ninja" nurses — officially called resource nurses — to try to understand how they make certain choices to improve decision making in the hospital and in machines.

The Shahs will develop a simulation test for the resource nurses, with the goal of translating instinctive decisions into specific explanations for certain actions. The project is funded by the Harvard Risk Management Foundation.

"If we can learn what these rules are that the best people are using, we'll be able to train people better," Neel Shah said.

The Shahs said they hope to have a training tool that can help other nurses make better decisions within two years, but eventually hospital floors could have intelligent machines to help hospital staff make decisions.

"Any tools we can give clinicians on the front line and control as best we can are really helpful and (can) make care safer," said Carol Keohane of CRICO, which awarded the grant. "It will help to hone in, and help people identify what resources are needed and take care of this population as well as possible."

There is no intent to take jobs away from hospital staff, Julie Shah said. Instead, the research will be used to help nurses make decisions and train new nurses to have the same "ninja" prowess.

"This is an area where long term it's not practical to have machines doing the work," Julie Shah said. "We still need people doing it, the question is how do we support people doing it."

For Julie Shah, the research will also help with what she calls "re-planning," making decisions and adapting to new scenarios without explicit instructions.

Her research focuses on the decisions that machines — largely robots — make autonomously, without having to be explicitly told to complete a task or alter a plan as well as how machines work with humans.

But, if machines have a better understanding of the decisions that humans make, the machines could re-plan and adapt to changing scenarios better.

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Robots to learn from Nurses

On the labor and delivery floor of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, about 20 so-called ninja nurses use their sixth sense to efficiently assign staff and resources to patients to make sure everyone gets the care and attention they need.

Now, a doctor and an Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor are teaming up to use their medical and robotics expertise to improve how machines work with humans, and make hospitals a bit better in the process.

"What we're aiming to do is learn from people who are outstanding at these resource allocation jobs and potentially teach a machine," said Julie Shah, the professor who leads the Interactive Robotics group at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.

Shah and her husband Neel Shah, an obstetrician at Beth Israel, will spend the next two years learning from these "ninja" nurses — officially called resource nurses — to try to understand how they make certain choices to improve decision making in the hospital and in machines.

The Shahs will develop a simulation test for the resource nurses, with the goal of translating instinctive decisions into specific explanations for certain actions. The project is funded by the Harvard Risk Management Foundation.

"If we can learn what these rules are that the best people are using, we'll be able to train people better," Neel Shah said.

The Shahs said they hope to have a training tool that can help other nurses make better decisions within two years, but eventually hospital floors could have intelligent machines to help hospital staff make decisions.

"Any tools we can give clinicians on the front line and control as best we can are really helpful and (can) make care safer," said Carol Keohane of CRICO, which awarded the grant. "It will help to hone in, and help people identify what resources are needed and take care of this population as well as possible."

There is no intent to take jobs away from hospital staff, Julie Shah said. Instead, the research will be used to help nurses make decisions and train new nurses to have the same "ninja" prowess.

"This is an area where long term it's not practical to have machines doing the work," Julie Shah said. "We still need people doing it, the question is how do we support people doing it."

For Julie Shah, the research will also help with what she calls "re-planning," making decisions and adapting to new scenarios without explicit instructions.

Her research focuses on the decisions that machines — largely robots — make autonomously, without having to be explicitly told to complete a task or alter a plan as well as how machines work with humans.

But, if machines have a better understanding of the decisions that humans make, the machines could re-plan and adapt to changing scenarios better.

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British retail boss sorry for anti-French remarks

LONDON — It was a speech that got lost in translation.

The boss of British retail chain John Lewis apologized Friday for saying France is "in decline" and "finished."

The Times newspaper reported that managing director Andy Street had made the critical comments at an event for entrepreneurs in London this week.

It said he described France as "sclerotic, hopeless and downbeat," and said "nothing works and worse, nobody cares about it."

Street also described the Gare du Nord station in Paris — terminus for Eurostar trains from London — as "the squalor pit of Europe" and told his audience: "If you've got investments in French businesses, get them out quickly."

In a statement Friday, Street said his comments "were supposed to be lighthearted views, and tongue in cheek."

"On reflection I clearly went too far," he said. "I regret the comments, and apologize unreservedly."

The French embassy in London was unamused by the comments. It told the Times that France had the world's fifth-largest economy, with world-class public services, a first-rate health care system and higher workforce productivity than many other developed countries.

John Lewis operates upmarket department stores in Britain. It does not have any stores in France but is planning to launch a website for French customers.

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The Ticker

Woman charged in $1.7M theft from job

A grand jury has indicted a North Andover woman on larceny and other charges for allegedly stealing more than $1.7 million from her employer and using the money for vacations, luxury vehicles and furniture.

Authorities allege that while the office manager for Diamond Ironworks from 2007 until 2012, 44-year-old Dorothy Giard used company funds to pay personal credit card bills and stole through unauthorized charges to corporate credit cards, then falsified company records to cover her tracks. Diamond Ironworks is a steel fabricator in Lawrence. Authorities say she spent more than $114,000 in air travel to destinations including Las Vegas and London; $20,000 toward a Lincoln and a Mercedes Benz; $20,000 in spa services; and $13,000 in designer products.

Best Buy to close Fenway store

Consumer electronics chain Best Buy will shutter its 12-year-old Boston store at the Landmark Center in the Fenway neighborhood after the end of business Nov. 1.

The Minnesota-based company is taking advantage of an opportunity from landlord Samuels and Associates to terminate its lease early without penalty, according to Best Buy spokesman Jeff Shelman.

"It's been a challenging location for us," Shelman said. "There's some logistical challenges with the store, the biggest of which is the loading dock is about a quarter of a mile from the actual store."

Samuels did not give a reason for allowing Best Buy to vacate early, according to Shelman, but the Boston real estate development company is slated to start construction on the $650 million redevelopment of Landmark Center next summer. A Samuels spokeswoman declined comment on plans for Best Buy's approximately 30,000 square feet of space.

Oil spill area to be restored

Shellfishing areas will be restored and recreational activities will be enhanced under the second round of remediation projects to clean up the Massachusetts and Rhode Island shorelines damaged in a 2003 oil spill in Buzzards Bay, state and federal environmental officials said yesterday.

The nearly $4.3 million plan includes the restoration of shoreline resources, including tidal marshes and beaches; aquatic resources, including lobster, shellfish and fin fishing habitats; and recreational resources, including public access.

A barge owned by Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. struck a rocky ledge at the mouth of Buzzards Bay in April 2003, spilling 98,000 gallons of oil. It polluted about 100 miles of the New England coastline, killing birds and closing shellfish beds. Bouchard reached a $6 million environmental settlement.

• Baker Newman Noyes, one of the nation's top 125 accounting and consulting firms, announced that Mark A. Audi, CPA, left, has joined as principal-in-charge of the firm's Boston office. Prior to joining the firm, Audi served as assurance services senior manager at a Big 4 firm in Boston.

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