Hewlett-Packard has split up

The company officially split into two entities on November 1

Hewlett-Packard Company co-founders David Packard (seated) and William Hewlett run final production tests on a shipment of the 200A audio oscillator. The picture was taken in 1939 in the garage at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto, California, where they began their business. (Getty)

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard were fresh out of Stanford University, clutching electrical engineering degrees, when they founded Hewlett-Packard in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California, in 1939.

They had been encouraged by one of their former professors, Frederick Terman, to go into business during a fellowship at university. Four years after graduating, with initial capital of $536, they tossed a coin to see if the company would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. Bill won the toss, and the company was set.

So it was until November 1, 2016, when the company officially split into two entities: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. The Enterprise part of the business will focus of software and business services.

The newly renovated HP garage (L) and shed (R), where Dave Packard stayed, on Addison Avenue are seen December 8, 2005 in Palo Alto, California. In 1939 Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their business, Hewlett Packard, and used the garage as a research lab, development workshop and manufacturing facility for early products such as the audio oscillator. (Getty)

HP Inc will be the new home of the company’s computer business, which was for a time the most successful in the world.

In recent years, Hewlett-Packard's prowess has faded. The split has been engineered to revive the businesses, which have become less competitive. The company's founders will never know: Bill Hewlett died in 2001 and Dave Packard in 1996.

Hewlett-Packard still has one monument to its early days as an incorporated company: the garage where Bill and Dave started the company has been designated a California landmark.