Two rants in one day...I'm on a roll

Fast Company has republished a November 2004 interview with Kevin Rollins, CEO of Dell. In the interview, Rollins states "If R&D spending is the driver of success, why aren't IBM and HP making money in the computer business? Compaq and HP haven't made money in their desktop business for at least five years."

Granted, we're a year and half later, but a simple look at the numbers proves Rollins wrong. Here is the operating income from HP's PC business for the last six years. I have to concede defeat to Rollins in 2001-2002, but for the pre- and post-merger companies, numbers speak louder than Rollin's words. Oh, and by the way, since the time of the interview, Dell's stock price has dropped from $40.52 to $29.23 while HP's stock price has risen from $20.00 to $33.79.

Opeating Income for PC Division:
2000
HP - $335 million
Compaq - $289 million

2001
HP - ($412) million

2002
HP - ($401) million

2003
HP - $18 million

2004
HP - $205 million

2005
HP - $657 million