HP Inc. (HPQ): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

As a seasoned financial analyst, I have to ask: can a company like HP Inc. truly pivot its massive, $54.711 billion trailing twelve-month revenue engine to capture the next wave of computing? The snapshot from the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 shows a clear split, with the Personal Systems segment driving growth at $9.9 billion in revenue, up 6% year-over-year, while the legacy Printing business continues to face a revenue decline of 4%.

This dynamic is why you need to look past the ticker: institutional investors like BlackRock and Vanguard Group Inc. hold a dominant stake of over 77.53% of the company, betting on HP Inc.'s strategy to aggressively push into high-value categories like AI PCs and advanced compute solutions. With the company guiding for full-year non-GAAP diluted net EPS between $3.45 and $3.75, do the underlying segments and their cost-cutting plans actually support that valuation, or is the market underestimating the headwinds in print?

HP Inc. (HPQ) History

You're looking for the foundational story of HP Inc., and it's a narrative of constant reinvention, starting in a garage and culminating in a focused, multi-billion dollar technology leader. The direct takeaway is this: the company you know today as HP Inc. is the result of a deliberate 2015 split, designed to focus entirely on personal systems and printing, a strategy now centered on the high-growth opportunity of AI PCs and a massive cost-savings plan.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The original Hewlett-Packard Company was formally established on January 1, 1939.

Original location

The company began operations in a rented, 12-by-18-foot garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. This site is now famously recognized as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

Founding team members

The founders were two Stanford University electrical engineering graduates: William R. Hewlett (Bill) and David Packard (Dave). The company name was decided by a coin toss.

Initial capital/funding

The initial investment was a modest $538. Their first commercially successful product was the HP Model 200A audio oscillator, with Walt Disney Productions as an early customer.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The history of HP is really about a series of strategic pivots, especially the two major splits that redefined its core business. You can't understand HP Inc. today without looking at these decisions.

The first major structural change was the 1999 spin-off of its measurement, medical, and chemical analysis businesses into Agilent Technologies. This allowed the remaining Hewlett-Packard to focus more intently on computing and imaging, a necessary step to stay competitive. That was a clean cut to focus on the future.

The most crucial moment for the current entity, HP Inc., was the 2015 separation from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). This move was a bold bet on focus, separating the consumer/personal systems and printing business from the enterprise hardware and services side. The goal was to create two more agile, market-responsive companies.

Since the split, HP Inc. has been executing a strategy to maximize its core markets and invest in new growth areas. Here's the quick math: in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, the company reported net revenue of $13.5 billion, with the Personal Systems segment growing 5% year-over-year to $9.2 billion, showing the focus is working. That's real growth in a tough market.

• Future Ready Plan: The company is aggressively pursuing its Future Ready plan, raising the annualized gross run rate structural cost savings target to $1.9 billion by the end of fiscal year 2025.
• AI PC Expansion: A core near-term opportunity is the expansion of its portfolio of AI PCs, which feature Neural Processing Units (NPUs) to handle on-device artificial intelligence tasks.
• Strategic Acquisitions: HP Inc. has used targeted acquisitions to expand beyond its traditional core, such as the purchase of HyperX for gaming peripherals and Poly Inc. for communication software and hardware, supporting the shift to hybrid work.

The company is defintely positioning itself to lead the future of work, but the Printing segment still faces challenges, with Q3 FY 2025 net revenue down 4% year-over-year to $4.0 billion. You can read more about the strategic direction in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of HP Inc. (HPQ).

HP Inc. (HPQ) Ownership Structure

HP Inc.'s ownership structure is heavily weighted toward institutional investors, which is typical for a large, established technology company. This means that major financial institutions, not individual retail traders, defintely control the majority of the stock and, consequently, the company's long-term strategic direction.

You're looking at a structure where the biggest players-firms like Vanguard Group Inc. and BlackRock, Inc.-drive the sentiment and trading volume, so their investment decisions carry significant weight on the stock price. You can dive deeper into the market dynamics of these major holders by Exploring HP Inc. (HPQ) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

HP Inc.'s Current Status

HP Inc. (HPQ) is a publicly traded company, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). As of November 2025, its market capitalization is approximately $22.89 billion, reflecting its status as a mature technology hardware leader with a focus on personal systems and printing. The company maintains a notable dividend yield of 4.25%, making it an attractive holding for income-focused institutional funds.

The company's governance is subject to the strict reporting and transparency requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which provides you with a clear view of its financial health and operational changes.

HP Inc.'s Ownership Breakdown

Institutional shareholders hold the lion's share of the company, giving them considerable influence over corporate actions and board elections. What this estimate hides is the power of the top shareholders, with the 16 largest investors holding a majority stake of 51%.

HP Inc.'s Leadership

The executive team steers the company's strategy, particularly its focus on digital transformation and the emerging AI PC market. Here's the quick math: the average tenure of the management team is relatively short at 1.3 years, suggesting a recently reshuffled team focused on new growth vectors.

The key leadership structure as of November 2025 includes:

• Enrique Lores: President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He has been in the CEO role since November 2019 and is driving the company's core strategy.
• Karen Parkhill: Chief Financial Officer (CFO). She manages the company's balance sheet and financial strategy, including capital allocation and the dividend program.
• Ketan Patel: President, Personal Systems. He succeeded Alex Cho, effective November 1, 2025, and is responsible for the critical PC business, including the push into AI-enabled devices.
• Tuan Tran: President, Technology & Innovation. He oversees the development of new technologies and intellectual property across the organization.
• Prakash Arunkundrum: Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. Having joined in 2025, he is focused on defining the long-term strategy and leading enterprise-wide, AI-driven transformation initiatives.

The board of directors, which provides oversight, is more experienced, with an average tenure of 5.3 years and is chaired by Charles Bergh.

HP Inc. (HPQ) Mission and Values

HP Inc.'s mission and values are fundamentally about using technology to drive positive global impact, moving well beyond just selling hardware. This cultural DNA, rooted in the original 'HP Way,' is a clear commitment to be the world's most sustainable and just technology company, a goal with a hard deadline attached.

You're looking for what guides the company's long-term strategy, and honestly, it boils down to balancing innovation with social responsibility. For example, their focus on sustainability isn't just PR; it's tied to concrete 2025 targets, like achieving carbon neutrality in their own operations. Breaking Down HP Inc. (HPQ) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors shows how these non-financial goals impact the bottom line.

HP Inc.'s Core Purpose

The core purpose at HP Inc. is a direct extension of the founders' philosophy, which emphasized contribution to society alongside profit. It's what drives their investments in areas like hybrid work solutions and AI-enabled PCs, ensuring the technology is not just fast, but genuinely useful and productive for people.

Here's the quick math on their commitment: they are leveraging their massive scale-like the $53.6 billion in net revenue reported in fiscal year 2024-to push for industry-wide change in supply chain ethics and environmental impact. That's a huge lever to pull.

Official Mission Statement

HP Inc.'s mission is concise, but its scope is global. It sets a high bar for every product and service they offer, demanding a focus on the user experience and the broader societal benefit.

• Create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.
• Engineer experiences that amaze.

That second part is defintely the key to their premium product strategy.

Vision Statement

The vision statement is where HP Inc. maps its long-term aspirations, particularly in the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) space. It's a bold claim, but they've backed it with specific, near-term goals for 2025 that investors can track.

• To be the world's most sustainable and just technology company.
• Create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere-every person, every organization, and every community around the globe.

This vision translates into clear actions for the 2025 fiscal year, including reaching carbon neutrality and zero waste in all HP operations. Also, they aim to use 100% recycled or renewable materials in all product packaging by the end of the year.

HP Inc. Slogan/Tagline

The company's tagline is an action-oriented phrase that captures the essence of their mission and the legacy of their founders, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, whose management style was known as the 'HP Way.'

• Make it matter.
• The HP Way Now.

This idea of 'making it matter' is what drives their goal to improve the well-being and skills of 500,000 supplier factory workers by 2025. It's not just about the product; it's about the entire value chain.

HP Inc. (HPQ) How It Works

HP Inc. operates as a two-pillar technology giant, primarily generating revenue by delivering personal computing devices and printing solutions globally, with a strategic pivot toward high-margin commercial and subscription-based services in fiscal year 2025.

Honest to goodness, the business model boils down to selling the hardware-Personal Systems revenue was $9.9 billion in Q3 FY2025-and then locking in the recurring, high-margin revenue from the ink and toner supplies, which is the annuity part of the Printing segment.

HP Inc.'s Product/Service Portfolio

HP Inc.'s Operational Framework

The company creates value through a dual-engine strategy: driving volume and market share in Personal Systems while extracting high-margin, recurring revenue from the Printing segment's supplies and services. This framework is currently being refined by the 'Future Ready' strategy, which aims for structural cost savings.

Here's the quick math on the cost side: the Future Ready plan is expected to deliver at least $2 billion in gross annual run-rate structural savings by the end of fiscal year 2025. That's a significant margin buffer, defintely needed in a competitive market.

• Supply Chain De-risking: Rapidly expanding the manufacturing footprint outside of China to mitigate geopolitical and tariff risks, aiming for over 90% of products sold in North America to be built outside China by the end of FY2025.
• Commercial Focus: Prioritizing the higher-margin Commercial Personal Systems business, which saw a 9% revenue increase in Q2 FY2025, over the more volatile Consumer segment.
• Annuity Model Expansion: Shifting the Printing business further toward subscription and contractual services, like the HP All-In Subscription Print Plan, to stabilize and grow the high-margin supplies revenue base.

HP Inc.'s Strategic Advantages

HP Inc.'s market success hinges on its global scale, a powerful, trusted brand, and its aggressive push into next-generation computing, specifically the AI PC category. You can't just discount a brand that's been synonymous with quality computing for decades.

• Global Distribution and Brand Trust: A decades-long reputation for reliable, high-quality products that provides immediate credibility, especially in the Commercial and Enterprise space.
• AI PC Leadership: Positioning to capitalize on the refresh cycle driven by the end-of-life for Windows 10 and the demand for AI-enabled devices, with AI PCs expected to comprise a significant portion of commercial shipments in 2025.
• Resilient Cash Flow: Despite near-term pressures, the company anticipates generating free cash flow in the range of $2.6 billion to $3.0 billion for fiscal year 2025, which funds dividends and strategic investments.
• Proprietary Ink/Toner Technology: The razor-and-blade model in printing, where the proprietary supplies generate operating margins in the high teens (Printing operating margin was 17.3% in Q3 FY2025), remains a crucial, defensible profit engine.

HP Inc. (HPQ) How It Makes Money

HP Inc. primarily makes money through a dual-engine business model: selling personal computing hardware-laptops, desktops, and workstations-and then generating high-margin, recurring revenue from printing supplies like ink and toner. This is a classic razor-and-blades strategy, where the hardware sale is the initial, lower-margin transaction that locks in the customer for the profitable supplies business.

HP Inc.'s Revenue Breakdown

As of the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, HP Inc.'s revenue composition clearly shows the shift to the Personal Systems segment as the largest contributor to the top line, though not the largest contributor to profit.

Business Economics

You need to look past the top-line revenue percentage to understand where the real cash is generated. The Personal Systems segment, which includes PCs, is the volume driver, but it operates on a thin margin. In Q3 FY2025, Personal Systems had an operating margin of only 5.4%, reflecting the intense competition in the PC market.

The Printing segment, however, is the high-margin cash cow, which is why its decline is a key concern. Its operating margin in Q3 FY2025 was a hefty 17.3%, more than three times that of the PC business. The bulk of this profitability comes from the supplies-ink and toner-not the printers themselves. That's the core of the business model. To be fair, the decline in Printing is offset by the growth in Personal Systems, which is benefiting from two major near-term tailwinds:

• AI PC Adoption: HP Inc. is charging a 5% to 10% premium for its new AI-powered PCs, which already account for over a quarter of sales.
• Windows 10 End-of-Support: The October 2025 deadline for Microsoft Windows 10 support is forcing a massive commercial upgrade cycle, defintely boosting PC sales in the commercial segment.

The company is also actively managing costs, raising its 'Future Ready' structural cost savings target to $1.9 billion by the end of fiscal year 2025 to help shore up overall profitability.

HP Inc.'s Financial Performance

For the full fiscal year 2025, the company's financial guidance reflects a mixed picture of growth in PCs and pressure on the Printing side, plus the added cost of shifting manufacturing to mitigate trade-related tariffs. Here's the quick math on what management expects:

• Full-Year Non-GAAP EPS: HP Inc. projects non-GAAP diluted net earnings per share for fiscal year 2025 to be in the range of $3.00 to $3.30.
• Free Cash Flow: The company anticipates generating strong free cash flow in the range of $2.6 billion to $3.0 billion for the full fiscal year 2025. This cash generation is what supports their shareholder return program.
• Latest Revenue TTM: Trailing twelve months (TTM) revenue ending July 31, 2025, reached $54.711 billion, showing a modest year-over-year increase of 2.61%.
• Shareholder Returns: In Q3 FY2025 alone, HP Inc. returned $0.4 billion to shareholders via dividends and share repurchases, underscoring its commitment to capital allocation.

What this estimate hides is the margin squeeze: while Personal Systems is growing, its lower margin pulls down the consolidated non-GAAP operating margin, which was 7.1% in Q3 2025, down from 8.2% in the prior year period. You can find more details on their strategic direction in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of HP Inc. (HPQ).

HP Inc. (HPQ) Market Position & Future Outlook

HP Inc. maintains a strong, dual-market leadership position, ranking as the world's second-largest personal computer vendor and a dominant force in the global printing market, but its future growth is tied to successfully pivoting toward premium, subscription-based services and the new wave of Artificial Intelligence PCs (AIPCs).

The company is navigating a cyclical PC refresh driven by the Windows 10 end-of-support deadline and a secular decline in its traditional printing supplies business, aiming to offset this with a massive $1.9 billion in targeted annual cost savings by the end of fiscal year 2025 through its Future Ready plan.

Competitive Landscape

In the printing segment, which is a key part of HP's revenue, the market is highly consolidated, with HP holding a clear lead over its primary rivals. This table reflects the estimated global market share in the printing hardware and supplies segment as of 2025, illustrating HP's position against two major competitors.

Opportunities & Challenges

You need to see the near-term landscape as a trade-off: The Windows 10 refresh is a huge tailwind, but the printing business is still a headwind. This is a defintely balanced risk/reward scenario.

Industry Position

HP Inc. is a mature, cash-generative technology giant whose market standing is defined by its massive scale in two consolidating industries. For the full fiscal year 2025, consensus revenue is projected to be around $55.92 billion, with adjusted Earnings Per Share (EPS) forecasted to land in the range of $3.45 to $3.75.

The company's strategy hinges on using its dominant market share in the PC segment-where it holds approximately a 21.5% share of global shipments as of Q3 2025-to push higher-value products like the new Omni-branded AI PCs.

• Lead the commercial PC segment, capitalizing on the Windows 10 end-of-support refresh cycle.
• Mitigate supply chain risk by accelerating the shift of manufacturing, targeting over 90% of North American products to be built outside of China by the end of fiscal year 2025.
• Prioritize shareholder returns, leveraging its robust free cash flow, which currently yields 11.45%.
• Invest in the future by developing new technologies like its industrial 3D printing portfolio, which is designed to reduce the cost per part by 2026.

For a deeper dive into the foundational principles guiding these decisions, you should review the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of HP Inc. (HPQ).