Xerox Splits Into Two Companies, Icahn Not Behind Move (thestack.com) 45
An anonymous reader writes: Printer and copier maker Xerox has announced its plans to split into two separate publicly traded companies, giving billionaire Carl Icahn three board seats in the settlement. CEO Ursula Burns has now claimed that the decision was not driven in any way by the activist investor. Burns confirmed that the company had begun looking into its structure and portfolio from October 2015, in order to better reflect changes in the market. She added that no conversations with Icahn took place prior to these reviews, or before it made the final call. Xerox will now be divided into a new business process outsourcing company, and a document technology firm. Burns explained that her role, in either company, has not yet been confirmed. However now that the split is being implemented, leadership discussions will be held shortly, she said.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
At least this is one we can't blame on Ethan, aka StartsWithABang.
But I wonder if other self-promoters now are trying to get on Slashdot's front page via the AC route, and then post as AC to stir up more interest. (Parent AC, I'm talking to you.)
true enough, but... (Score:4, Funny)
It's true, Xerox is splitting into two companies. But the second company is merely going to be a copy of the first one.
Re:true enough, but... (Score:5, Funny)
It's true, Xerox is splitting into two companies. But the second company is merely going to be a copy of the first one.
Yeah but...
Which one is the clone?
It's the one that's still warm.
Re: (Score:3)
There are many copies, and they have a plan.
Re: (Score:2)
Business Process Outsourcing (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
It mean I spend every night sitting on the edge of my bed, with a gun in my hand, crying, son.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Doesn't Xerox already have a BPO arm? I thought they did, and it's called ACS.
So which of these 2 companies will be Xerox - the BPO one, or the document tech one?
Corporate governance question (Score:3)
From the fine summary:
giving billionaire Carl Icahn three board seats in the settlement
Is Corporate Governance actually supposed to work this way? It sounds like there will be three board members appointed, none of which are independent and who all just do the bidding of Icahn.
Why not just cut two seats and give Carl's new seat 3 votes?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If Icahn gives me a seat I promise to vote the way he tells me. Until I'm tired of being on the board in which case I'll vote my conscience.
Re: (Score:3)
Its not uncommon with large investors. If you have a startup and I buy 40% of the company, its normal for me to have 40% of the board as well. A board's job is to be independent of the management, not of the owners.
As for 3 seats vs 1 seat- 3 seats gives 3 different people with different sets of views and opinions when asked for advice. It also means Carl doesn't have to show up to board meetings himself, his cronies do.
Re: (Score:1)
What they need to do is cut Icahn's balls off before he finishes destroying the remains of Xerox.
Re: (Score:2)
Board members aren't supposed to be "independent"; they're supposed to support the stockholders' interests. If Icahn holds a significant piece of Xerox's shares, I don't see anything terribly inappropriate about it.
Re: (Score:2)
Wouldn't Icahn have his hands full if his pal President Trump calls on him? He'll probably be either Trade Representative or Secretary of State or something, so that he can negotiate the better deals that we need to make America great again. With his hands full w/ all this, how will he have time for what goes on @ Xerox? And wouldn't it potentially be a conflict of interests?
C'mon headline writers - wake up! (Score:3)
And Then There Were Two - Xerox Copies Self ...with a lead of:
Remember Xerox? Your parents probably did. But now there's two of them to make fun of now that...
Re: (Score:2)
Photocopiers are still around. They usually seem to be HP though. The industrial sized ones have the ink cartridges the size of a console system and a half-dozen bays for paper sheets of all sizes, as well as doing stapling, multiple runs, bluetooth and wifi connection, HP are bringing out 3D printers this year:
http://www.copierguide.com/new... [copierguide.com]
So Xerox now has to compete in at least two places; existing 2D technologies and 3D technologies. There's going to be some lucky kids who get to visit their parents
Re: (Score:2)
Does Xerox play in 3D technologies at all? I thought they were just into 2D technologies, and that much of their focus had gone into ACS. Also, are there that many standalone copiers nowadays - I thought the bulk of them were 3-in-1s. From HP, as well as Canon, Brother, Sharp, et al.
Re: (Score:2)
Looks like Xerox is splitting from ACS:
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat... [wsj.com]
That was a gamble to try and get into business services.
Re: (Score:2)
I looked at their copiers and there wasn't anything that really stood out. Just lots of standalone light beige photocopiers and what looked a like mad experiment to create a photocopier caterpillar with all sorts of intrays sticking out and paper bays in random places. Visually I think those machines need to look more organized rather than "it was the only space available when we designed the system".
Split into two? (Score:2)
The tide rolls in, the tide rolls out. (Score:1)
Xerox acquired ACS in 2009. Stagnates and splits into hardware and services companies in 2016.
I attribute this to a few dirty little secrets rarely mentioned.
1. People with titles starting with C are risk takers. They try bold moves to move the needle. Rarely does this really bite them in the ass. Even if they are fired in disgrace, they are still usually given a golden parachute to tide them over until the next c
Re: (Score:2)
I just read the first line: HP acquired EDS in 2008. Stagnates and splits into hardware and services companies in 2015.
HP did not split into hardware and services companies. They have split into consumer and enterprise companies.
Stop calling him an activist investor (Score:3)
That's a bullshit term his PR people have come up with and for some damn reason the media, Slashdot included, seem to play along. Call him what he is: A corporate raider. He likes to get controlling shares of companies, load them with debt, sell of their assets, and leave them to rot.
Icahn is a corporate raider (Score:4, Insightful)
So his stake in Xerox is 9.12%: "Carl Icahn (Trades, Portfolio) increased his shareholding of Xerox XRX +0.00% (NYSE:XRX) in January, a filing revealed Friday as the company announced increased partnership with him and major changes in line with his vision for the company.
Icahn’s funds purchased an additional 5,740,871 during the period from Jan. 4 to Jan. 8, at an average price of $10.05 per share. According to the filing, the purchases brought his total stake in the company to 92,377,043 shares, or 9.12% of its shares outstanding, and a boost of 12.2% from his last disclosure in December.
Icahn’s three selected board members will join a nine-member board of directors for the BPO company. The current board will begin searching for an external candidate for CEO of the BPO company and also allow Icahn to choose a representative to be involved in the search process, Xerox said.
[...]
“Happy to announce we reached an agreement with $XRX re: separation into two independent public companies,” Icahn said on Twitter TWTR +0.00% Friday. “We believe the separation will greatly enhance value for $XRX shareholders. I applaud and respect Ursula Burns for doing what she believes shareholders want – as @Donahoe_John did with $Ebay EBAY +0.00% and $PYPL. I hope and believe the results will be just as good for XRX shareholders.”
Icahn’s tweets referred to the division of Paypal (NASDAQ:PYPL) from eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) that he prompted last year and which became complete in July. Since they began trading separately on July 20, eBay’s shares have fallen 18.3% and Paypal Holdings shares have declined 6.7%."
-- Forbes link [forbes.com] (sorry folks, but that's where the info was)
Icahn himself says he "reached an agreement" with Xerox. The guy is a famous corporate raider with a significant stake in the company. Whoever said Icahn had nothing to do with it is delusional or lying.
You can tell which company is the spinoff (Score:2)
It's warm, slightly curly and fainter, and has vertical white bars running down it.
Xerox Xeroxes Xerox (Score:2)
And here I thought they were in Rochester, not Buffalo.
Lost (Score:3)
Xerox is probably a lost cause. Their failure to license solid ink technology, and instead try to hoard it for themselves, has probably cost them tens if not hundred of millions in revenue. They are an old fuddy-duddy company, that has long lost their way and have been living on borrowed time granted them by their towering forebearers ever since. I'll be surprised if they last another decade.
Xerox Copies Self (Score:1)