Hewlett-Packard cut the ribbon Wednesday on its new Executive Briefing Center in Palo Alto, which will serve as a meeting place for various HP events going forward.
The 37,700-square-foot facility replaces an EBC that HP operated at its offices along Pruneridge Avenue in Cupertino. HP is abandoning that and several other adjacent office buildings because that will be the site of a new headquarters building for Apple.
“This building is a symbol of our turnaround and sets the tone for a continued path of progress and rejuvenation,” said Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of HP, in remarks at a ribbon cutting ceremony that was attended by several HP employees and members of the company’s board. “It represents our continued commitment to our partners and customers and is a striking backdrop for HP’s innovative products and technology.”
Whitman got a laugh when she alluded to the turmoil at HP’s front office: “This was a labor of love, it went on for a number of years under three CEOs,” she said. HP’s two previous CEOs, Léo Apotheker and Mark Hurd, were both forced out of their jobs in 2011 and 2010, respectively. Their predecessor, Carly Fiorina, was also shown the door in 2005. Whitman is presiding over a strategic review of the company’s business units in an effort to improve its fortunes and bolster its stock price.
As the ribbon-cutting ceremony was taking place, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that HP was considering selling off Autonomy and EDS, two acquisitions that have failed to boost HP’s fortunes. Autonomy, a British information management software company, was acquired by HP in 2011 for $10.2 billion while EDS, an IT services business, was acquired in 2008 for $13.9 billion.
HP shareholders sued the company in November 2012 alleging that HP overpaid for Autonomy; HP took an $8.8 billion write-down of the value of the Autonomy acquisition, alleging “serious accounting improprieties” on the part of Autonomy. Meanwhile, HP was having difficulty integrating EDS into its operations.
The EBC is designed to provide demos of HP products and to train enterprise customers how to use HP hardware and software in their organizations.
The EBC, designed by the Gensler architectural firm and built by the Rudolph and Sletten construction firm, is also intended to be a showcase for HP’s environmental consciousness. The building meets HP’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from facilities it owns or leases by 20 percent relative to 2005 levels by the end of 2013. HP is awaiting LEED-CI Platinum certification for the EBC.
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