HP Confirms Autonomy Job Losses, R&D Investment

HP has informed employees there will be layoffs at its Autonomy business unit, but has also confirmed it will hire an additional 50 engineers and increase its research and development spending.

The plans were revealed in an internal memo written “in the spirit of being open and transparent” by the newly appointed head of Autonomy, Robert Youngjohns, and seen by AllThingsD.

HP apparently plans to combine Aurasma 2.0 with its printing and personal systems group as it seeks to make printing a ‘cloud citizen’, but added that this would require some job cuts within the group that builds Aurasma.

Autonomy job losses

Youngjohns did not say how many positions were at risk, but it had been reported in December that around 70 people would be let go, mostly in sales.

“This transition will require some changes to the Aurasma business as we to move to the next stage,” Youngjohns is reported to have said. “While a number of roles will remain largely unaffected by this, other roles within Aurasma will no longer be required going forward and some workforce reduction is likely.”

He added that HP was looking to redeploy as many affected employees as possible into other parts of the business.

HP told TechWeekEurope in December that Autonomy was central to its strategy going forward and that it planned to embed its software into almost everything it does.

This is despite the company announcing an $8.8 billion (£5.3bn) writedown on the value of Autonomy in November, following allegations of alleged accounting improprieties by former members of the British software company’s senior management team. It said accounting practices inflated the price it had to pay for the Cambridge-based developer, which it acquired for $10.3 billion (£6.7bn) in 2011.

HP has passed on the findings of an internal investigation to UK and US authorities and the FBI has launched its own investigation. Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch vehemently denies the allegations and earlier this month said HP was backtracking from its claims.

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