HPE's Whitman Sees Acquisitions as Bigger Part of Strategy

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, who has been racking up acquisitions to stay competitive in the age of cloud computing, said the company's shopping spree may not be over.

"I think you will see acquisitions become a bigger part of our strategy," Whitman said in an interview Tuesday in Las Vegas at the company's Discover conference. The company, based in Palo Alto, California, has already unveiled purchases so far this year worth more than $1.5 billion.

Whitman is hunting for tools that would help boost demand for the company's main server and storage products, seeking to push back against direct competitors such as Dell Technologies, as well as cloud-computing providers such as Amazon.com Inc. She's spent the past few years slimming down HPE, including splitting off the personal-computer and printer business and shedding some services and software units in multibillion-dollar deals. Now, she said, it's more clear where the company's resources should be spent.

"Back when we were an enormous company with six or seven operating divisions, there were a lot of mouths to feed," Whitman said. "Printing wanted to make acquisitions. PCs wanted to make acquisitions. Software wanted to make acquisitions. Now, we have a much more focused strategy."