NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Lenovo Group (0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to launch a tablet computer in China later this year, joining its rivals and handset vendors chasing after the success of Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iPad.

Chief Operating Officer Rory Read said on Tuesday that the company, the world’s No. 4 PC brand, will eventually sell the tablet PCs in emerging markets and then move to more developed economies.

“We’ll see stuff even before the end of the calendar year, initially in China,” Read told Reuters in an interview.

A large portion of Lenovo’s operations are in China, although the PC maker’s headquarters are in Morrisville, North Carolina.

Lenovo plans to sell a tablet along with a “hybrid” option that comes with a separate keyboard, he said, adding that it will be priced toward the “mainstream” consumer.

Lenovo has said that the tablet PC, known internally as LePad, would run on Google Inc’s (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Android operating system.

Read, however, said Lenovo remains focused on selling traditional laptops and desktops.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Silicon Valley technology giant Oracle Corp has hired Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal, as president.

Hurd, a close friend of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will replace Charles Phillips, who has resigned, Oracle said in a statement on Monday. Phillips was co-president alongside Safra Catz, who remains in her role.

Ellison had slammed HP’s decision to oust Hurd, calling the actions of HP’s board “cowardly.

Hurd resigned from HP on August 6, after a probe into sexual harassment allegations. HP said at the time that he filed inaccurate expense reports related to Jodie Fisher, a marketing contractor who worked for Hurd’s office from 2007 through 2009.

“Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” said Ellison in a statement on Monday.

Shares of HP are down 13 percent since Hurd’s resignation. Plucked from relative obscurity to head HP, Hurd is credited with resuscitating the technology giant by cutting costs and pursuing ambitious acquisitions.

HP said the expense reports were meant to hide a “close personal relationship” with Fisher, a sometime actress who has appeared in television shows and movies.

NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Silicon Valley technology giant Oracle Corp (ORCL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has hired Mark Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) who resigned amid a scandal, as president.

Hurd, a close friend of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will replace Charles Phillips, who has resigned, Oracle said in a statement on Monday. Phillips was co-president alongside Safra Catz, who remains in her role.

Ellison had slammed HP’s decision to oust Hurd, calling the actions of HP’s board “cowardly.” [ID:nLDE67901P]

Hurd resigned from HP on Aug. 6, after a probe into sexual harassment allegations. HP said at the time that he filed inaccurate expense reports related to Jodie Fisher, a marketing contractor who worked for Hurd’s office from 2007 through 2009.

“Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” said Ellison in a statement on Monday.

Shares of HP are down 13 percent since Hurd’s resignation. Plucked from relative obscurity to head HP, Hurd is credited with resuscitating the technology giant by cutting costs and pursuing ambitious acquisitions.

HP said the expense reports were meant to hide a “close personal relationship” with Fisher, a sometime actress who has appeared in television shows and movies.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc for $2.4 billion, as rival Dell Inc bowed out on Thursday.

HP raised its cash offer by $3 to $33 per share, beating Dell’s $32-a-share offer and ending an escalation of bids that many analysts said had gone too far.

3PAR shares closed up 2.5 percent at $32.88 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. They had mostly traded around $10 this year, until Dell announced its initial $18 per share bid in mid-August.

The deal values 3PAR at over eight times sales, and many analysts said that was too high for a company that has barely ever made a profit since it was founded in 1999. Multiples above five are considered lofty in technology deals.

Others, however, say 3PAR is worth it. The company competes with bigger rival EMC Corp in data storage, considered a key part of “cloud computing” — an increasingly popular technology that enables computer users to access data and software over the Internet, allowing companies to cut costs.

Such technology is seen increasingly crucial as emails, online video and electronic business transactions put a strain on corporate data centers. HP’s vast and global sales force could quickly turn 3PAR into a bigger, more profitable business, some said.

“Do I think it was an extremely rich valuation? Absolutely. But I think, given that it’s all cash, it shouldn’t take too long for it to be accretive,” said Stifel Nicolaus & Co analyst Aaron Rakers. “The question is, what kind of revenue synergy assumptions are they making?”

NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc (PAR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for $2.4 billion, as rival Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) bowed out on Thursday.

HP raised its cash offer by $3 to $33 per share, beating Dell’s $32-a-share offer and ending an escalation of bids that many analysts said had gone too far. (Reuters Breakingviews [ID:nN02200237] )

3PAR shares closed up 2.5 percent at $32.88 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. They had mostly traded around $10 this year, until Dell announced its initial $18 per share bid in mid-August.

The deal values 3PAR at over eight times sales, and many analysts said that was too high for a company that has barely ever made a profit since it was founded in 1999. Multiples above five are considered lofty in technology deals.

Others, however, say 3PAR is worth it. The company competes with bigger rival EMC Corp (EMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in data storage, considered a key part of “cloud computing” — an increasingly popular technology that enables computer users to access data and software over the Internet, allowing companies to cut costs.

Such technology is seen increasingly crucial as emails, online video and electronic business transactions put a strain on corporate data centers. HP’s vast and global sales force could quickly turn 3PAR into a bigger, more profitable business, some said.

“Do I think it was an extremely rich valuation? Absolutely. But I think, given that it’s all cash, it shouldn’t take too long for it to be accretive,” said Stifel Nicolaus & Co analyst Aaron Rakers. “The question is, what kind of revenue synergy assumptions are they making?”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co’s (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fierce bidding war against Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 3PAR Inc raised the profile of the once-obscure data storage business, and along with it the stature of HP executive Dave Donatelli.

Donatelli, who as head of enterprise servers, storage and networking marshaled the winning bid, is seen as one of the candidates to succeed Mark Hurd, the high-profile HP chief who stepped down on August 6 after a probe into his relationship with a contractor.

The 45-year-old Donatelli is known among former colleagues and analysts as an aggressive and highly effective executive who was schooled by the hard-driving culture of EMC Corp (EMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), his former employer and bigger rival to 3PAR.

Donatelli’s strength is his knowledge of enterprise technology like storage and networking, where HP is seeking to expand and faces tough competition from other large vendors like IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

“He’s technically very strong in terms of being able to run very large-scale engineering,” said Highland Capital Partners’ Peter Bell, who used to work with Donatelli at EMC.

A graduate of Boston College with an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Donatelli spent 22 years at EMC before joining HP last year, a move that prompted a lawsuit by EMC.

Some analysts said that he may not be chosen for the CEO role this time around because it has been only a year since he joined, and the board may want a more veteran HP executive like Ann Livermore, who oversees the overall enterprise business, or Shane Robison, chief strategy and technology officer.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc (PAR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for $2.4 billion, after rival Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) bowed out from a drawn-out bidding war on Thursday.

HP raised its offer by $3 to $33 per share, beating Dell’s latest $32-a-share offer and ending an exchange of bids that escalated to levels that many analysts said was too high.

3PAR shares rose 75 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $32.83. They had mostly traded around $10 this year, until Dell announced its $18 per share bid in August.

The deal values 3PAR at over eight times sales, and many analysts have said that was too high for a company that has barely ever made a profit since it was founded in 1999. Multiples above five are considered lofty in technology deals.

Others, however, say 3PAR is worth it. The company specializes in data storage, considered a key part of “cloud computing” — an increasingly popular technology that enables computer users to access data and software over the Internet, allowing companies to cut costs.

Such technology is seen increasingly crucial as emails, online video and electronic business transactions put a strain on corporate data centers.

“Do I think it was an extremely rich valuation? Absolutely. But I think, given that it’s all cash, it shouldn’t take too long for it to be accretive,” said Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Aaron Rakers. “The question is, what kind of revenue synergy assumptions are they making.”

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dell Inc(DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is widely expected to bow out of a bidding war with Hewlett-Packard Co for data storage company 3PAR Inc because of the increased price tag.

A survey of eight technology investors and analysts by Reuters on Monday found most expect Dell to soon give up its pursuit of 3PAR, either ceding to HP’s last offer of $30 per share or giving up at a few dollars higher at most.

Dell has until Wednesday to match HP’s $2 billion offer for the company, which analysts say would help speed up its expansion from personal computers into more profitable enterprise technology services.

“Clearly both companies really want 3PAR as part of their product mix, and they’ve both recognized the importance of storage in these cloud computing architectures. But I think it’s hard to compete with HP. They’ve got the bigger balance sheet,” said Peter Bell at venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners.

Analysts have said HP, with $115 billion of annual revenue compared with Dell’s $53 billion, holds the advantage of a bigger check book. HP also has a bigger and more global sales force that could help 3PAR grow faster, meaning it would likely get a return on investment faster than Dell could.

Dell said on Monday it was still assessing the situation and declined to comment further on negotiations.

HP’s bid was the most recent in a week-long volley of escalating offers, and people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that the company has the financial firepower to go higher.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is widely expected to bow out of a bidding war with Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for data storage company 3PAR Inc (PAR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) because of the increased price tag.

A survey of eight technology investors and analysts by Reuters on Monday found most expect Dell to soon give up its pursuit of 3PAR, either ceding to HP’s last offer of $30 per share or giving up at a few dollars higher at most.

Dell has until Wednesday to match HP’s $2 billion offer for the company, which analysts say would help speed up its expansion from personal computers into more profitable enterprise technology services.

“Clearly both companies really want 3PAR as part of their product mix, and they’ve both recognized the importance of storage in these cloud computing architectures. But I think it’s hard to compete with HP. They’ve got the bigger balance sheet,” said Peter Bell at venture capital firm Highland Capital Partners.

Analysts have said HP, with $115 billion of annual revenue compared with Dell’s $53 billion, holds the advantage of a bigger check book. HP also has a bigger and more global sales force that could help 3PAR grow faster, meaning it would likely get a return on investment faster than Dell could.

Dell said on Monday it was still assessing the situation and declined to comment further on negotiations.

HP’s bid was the most recent in a week-long volley of escalating offers, and people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday that the company has the financial firepower to go higher.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co raised its offer for 3PAR Inc to $2 billion, once again topping Dell Inc’s bid and showing it had plenty of ammunition in a bidding war for the data storage company.

HP’s offer on Friday of $30 per share was the latest in a week-long volley of escalating bids, and came less than 3 hours after Dell announced 3PAR had accepted its bid of $27 per share, which matched HP’s previous offer.

People familiar with the matter said that HP’s strategy is to keep the pressure on its smaller rival. They said HP has the financial firepower to go higher than the current bid.

The sources declined not to be named since the discussions are private.

Analysts have said that HP may be the stronger bidder with $115 billion in annual revenue compared with Dell’s $53 billion, and a more global sales force that could help 3PAR grow faster. HP’s bids have also been bolder, while Dell has mostly moved to match its rival.

“It’s strategically important to both companies. But given the bidding behavior, I feel like HP’s in this to win it,” said Dinesh Moorjani, analyst at Gleacher & Co.

Dell’s prior agreement with 3PAR, however, allows it to match competing bids, and the company said it was assessing the latest move, which has raised 3PAR’s valuations to what some analysts see as unreasonable levels.