Rumor: HP Looking To Fire CEO After Less Than A Year
And it looks like they're casting flirty glances at Meg Whitman.
New HP CEO Leo Apotheker's months-long leadership of the beleaguered IT giant may be coming to an ignoble end as soon as this week. Earlier today, Business Week reported confirmation via anonymous insiders that the Board, currently meeting at HP headquarters, is now seriously considering sacking him and the candidate widely tipped as his replacement is supposedly former eBay CEO and failed California gubernatorial candidate, Meg Whitman.
It's true that Apotheker's tenure hasn't been a roaring success. Since taking over in November, 2010, HP has been forced to lower sales forecasts 3 times and the company stock has dropped nearly 50 percent in value. Serious problems to be sure, but not entirely Apotheker' fault. HP has been in something of a downward spiral for years, dogged by high-profile tablet and smartphone failures, expense account 'irregularities', not to mention the infamous 2005 employee spying scandal, all of which happened under Mark Hurd's watch. But Apotheker was brought in after Hurd's resignation to right the ship of corporate state and his failure to do so quickly has apparently soured whatever good will he had with HP's Board.
While Whitman's high profile loss to Governor Jerry Brown isn't a mark on her ties to big business, the gubernatorial campaign exposed her to significant criticism for her handling of eBay's top job, particularly an alleged shoving incident in 2007 that occurred just before her resignation. Her tenure at eBay was otherwise successful, but her lack of experience in hardware, not to mention her negative public image would make her a curious choice. Then again, under Apotheker's time as CEO, HP has made some dramatic strategy shifts that undermined investor confidence and only accentuated their other missteps.
As of this writing, no official confirmation of Apotheker's replacement, or who it would be, has been released.
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Maximus_Delta They need to focus on their home PC and tablet business, that was a mistake, team up with Windows 8 and take Apple head on... I should throw my hat into the ring for this job.Reply -
kbarber29 "My Meg Whitman, what big teeth you have," says Leo. "The better to eat you with, my dear," says Meg.Reply -
captaincharisma 9311683 said:Heck make me CEO. Even I'd do a better job
i always route for HP to go out of business so i agree hire this guy :hello:
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utengineer Maximus_Delta... I should throw my hat into the ring for this job.Are you sure? You would probably have to quit your day job as an internet troll. ;) BTW, HP already sacked their PC and tablet business. Maybe you could bring it back. Derp.Reply
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CaedenV Perhaps the fact that they are putting Meg up as the next runner-up should prove that the Board is the problem as they do not know what they are doing!Reply
Meg lucked in on a new idea, and managed to bring it to market. When it became successful she could not handle the business, and the business was better off without her when she left. But even being better off it is still the most backwards unfriendly site I have ever used in my life.
HP has always been the poor mans dell. And dell has always been crap (with the exception of their business class hardware which is quite usable, and actually has real customer support). And when you are in the position of being a poor mans crap then there is plenty of room for improvement. Even small improvements would be highly noticeable. Not saying it isn't possible to fix, but my bet is that they flounder for 10 more years before becoming the next gateway where you hear their name and think "wait... didn't they go out of business a while back?" -
legacy7955 It really is actually painful to watch a historic and important technology company like HP wither and die due to the utter incompetence of the BoD and the executive leaders they have had over the past couple of decades.Reply
I am BEGGING, no PLEADING for the families of Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard to get involved and somehow take back control of the company before it is completely too late to save HP!
Are we supposed to believe that HP can find NO qualified, worthy successors to this latest dope Mr Apotheker somewhere within the company, someone who actually cares about the products and the people? I don't believe it for ONE minute. -
legacy7955 When it comes to the PSG products think a more premium version of ZT Systems offerings. Assemble the product in the USA and use ONLY US based tech support, also drop the cheapest offerings and streamline the rest of the middle and premium offerings using higher quality hardware. Perhaps some products for folks who would like to build their own but like the fact that there is a solid warranty and good support if needed.Reply