3Com to Spin Off Palm Computing

Santa Clara, Calif. (eFront News) – 3Com Corporation has filed the necessary paperwork to begin the initial public offering of Palm Computing Inc. In connection with the IPO, Palm Computing will change its name to Palm, Inc. The IPO will begin with 3Com offering 20% of its ownership in Palm Inc. Six months later, the remainder of the shares in Palm will be distributed among all of 3Com’s existing shareholders.

3Com aquired Palm Computing when it purchased US Robotics, the former parent company of Palm Computing. Since then, Palm as gained market share and introduced many more successful products. According to International Data Corporation, Palm had a 68% share in the personal digital assistant market in 1998.

Earlier this year, Palm introduced the Palm VII – the first digital organizer with built in wireless Internet. Complete story to follow.