HP spent $1.2 billion to acquire Palm in 2010 and, according to an insider source, that's exactly how much it was asking when trying to sell off those same assets a year later. That's the word coming from VentureBeat, which also connects this lofty asking price to a rumored meeting between HP and Facebook where the HP negotiators were laughed out of the room, ostensibly due to their high demands.

It was always at least a little curious that HP couldn't find a suitable buyer to purchase its Palm assets, but if the company was indeed blinkered enough to expect to recoup its entire initial investment, it's no wonder that all trading partners bowed out of the running. VentureBeat's source does suggest that the asking price may have eventually been lowered from the initial $1.2b, but ultimately it seems like HP's unrealistic valuation of what were significantly depreciated assets is what forced Meg Whitman's hand into open-sourcing webOS.