There's a report that Xerox is planning to split into two companies. That according to a story out Thursday afternoon from the Wall Street Journal.
The story says that Xerox plans to divide itself into one company that includes the hardware operations and another company containing the services business. The Journal says the announcement is expected to come Friday when 4th quarter earnings are announced. A Xerox spokesman would not comment on the speculation Thursday when contacted by WXXI News.
The WSJ says that billionaire investor Carl Icahn will get three seats on the board of the new services company. He disclosed last November that he has a stake of more than 8 percent and said he would look to talk with Xerox about its future.
At Brighton Securities, Chairman George Conboy is not surprised by the report saying that "simply because for years we've seen the equipment business struggle while services were growing, but those two businesses are not closely related, they have nothing in common, ultimately it had to happen because the stock wasn't going up."
Xerox increasingly has been depending on more of its revenue from the services business. Much of the operations in the Rochester area, where it employs about 6,500 people, involves the equipment side of the business. Conboy says it is a concern for the Rochester area if the split happens, since the equipment business has not been growing.
