HP reportedly wanted to sell Palm Inc. for $1.2 billion
Following the failure of the HP TouchPad, the future of the WebOS team was in jeopardy as the TouchPad was supposed to be the flagship tablet representing the WebOS software. Now, new rumors claim that HP actually tried to sell its subsidiary for the same nominal amount that it paid for back in 2010.
Sources close to VentureBeat say HP had put Palm up for sale for $1.2 billion. As it turns out, $1.2 billion was exactly how much HP acquired Palm Inc. for. While it was unlikely that any other company would take up the offer at that price point, HP may have been taking a long shot in reducing its losses as much as possible. Previous rumors of a possible buyout from Amazon or even Samsung were quickly shot down, but are now a bit more believable if HP had really been willing to negotiate around the $1.2 billion asking price.
As many already know, HP eventually decided on an open-source future for the WebOS platform with a possible return to WebOS tablets in the future. But for now, HP will be concentrating on Windows 8 tablets while avoiding the financial embarrassment that was the TouchPad, Veer 4G and Pre 3 devices.