In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology news:

  • HP is selling its server business in China
  • Peak 10 expands in the Triangle
  • Will Altice buy Time Warner Cable?
  • Spotify adds more services
  • PayPal pays $25 million settlement and fine

The details:

  • Hewlett-Packard sells stake in Chinese unit for $2.3B

Hewlett-Packard is selling a 51 percent stake in its China sever, storage and technology storage unit for about $2.3 billion as it restructures its business in that country.

HP says it will sell the controlling stake to Tsinghua Holdings, part of state-owned Tsinghua University, and create an entity called H3C.

HP will maintain ownership of its other businesses in China, including business services, software, HP Helion Cloud and other operations.

H3C will have about 8,000 staffers and $3.1 billion in annual revenue. HP says the change will allow it to better serve customers in China.

Hewlett Packard Co. is undergoing a broader restructuring as it prepares to split into two companies by Oct. 31.

  • Peak 10 expands in Triangle

Charlotte-based Peak 10 is expanding in the Triangle, adding 31,500 square feet to its data hosting and related services facilities in Morrisville,

Peak 10 also plans to hire additional personnel.

The Morrisville complex now houses three contiguous centers covering more than 100,000 square feet.

“The economic vitality of the Research Triangle Park market area is evident in our growth here, as we continue to add to the strong base of customers we’re privileged to serve,” said Kurt Mosley, director of service delivery for Peak 10’s Raleigh operations. “The construction of our third facility here allows us to deliver our enterprise-level data center services to more customers, supporting both their business growth and that of the region.”

  • Europe’s Altice enters US cable frenzy with Suddenlink deal

European cable and mobile phone operator Altice, controlled by founder Patrick Drahi, is fixing its sights on the U.S. market starting with a $9.1 billion deal for St. Louis-based Suddenlink.

There are likely to be more attempts at U.S. purchases. Altice, which has grown through a series of acquisitions over the past dozen years, said Wednesday that it envisions U.S. operations making up about half its business.

Suddenlink is the seventh-largest cable operator in the U.S., with 1.5 million residential customers in smaller markets in the South, West and Midwest. Like other smaller cablecompanies, it is having a harder time in the pay-TV market. Such companies say their costs, per subscriber, are higher than those of cable giants such as Comcast.

Comcast’s own $45 billion quest for No. 2 rival Time Warner Cable was recently quashed by regulators wary of the bigger company’s potential power to undermine competition from online video providers. That bid’s failure has set off expectations that Charter Communications, backed by cable magnate John Malone, will try to buy Time WarnerCable. Charter is also pursuing Bright House, a cable company with operations focused in Florida. Meanwhile, AT&T is waiting for regulators to clear its $48.5 billion purchase of satellite TV provider DirecTV.

Reports that Altice is also interested in Time Warner Cable means industry consolidation is likely to favor shareholders of the New York company, wrote Jefferies analyst Mike McCormack in a client note Wednesday.

  • Spotify introduces video, radio service

While saying that it is still a music company at heart, Spotify says it is expanding its lineup to include podcasts, news radio and video streaming.

The company says it wants to help people create a soundtrack for their day that includes not only music but videos, newscasts and other content.

CEO Daniel Ek said that the new service launches Wednesday in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Sweden.

Spotify offers free streaming music and also a premium service for a monthly fee that lets users listen to music offline and without advertisements. The extra content, from partners such as Comedy Central, BBC and ESPN, will be available for both free and premium customers.

Spotify enters a competitive market for video streaming that is dominated by Netflix, Amazon.com, and Hulu, but it’s getting more crowded of late with the arrival of companies like HBO. But the company says its main focus will continue to be music, and in that sense it’s likely to stand apart from the services whose primary product is TV and movie streaming.

  • PayPal’s fine, refunds

PayPal agreed to refund $15 million and pay a fine of $10 million in a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

“The CFPB accused PayPal of all sorts of schemes, so many that it kinda sounds like PayPal is run by my Grandpa Hirtz in his 1980s casino-boat drinking days rather than business professionals,” news site Gizmodo reported.

Read more at: http://gizmodo.com/paypal-has-to-pay-25-million-for-being-sketchy-as-hell-1705630163