Hewlett-Packard employees aren’t the only ones facing the axe as the company struggles to reinvent itself for the post-PC era: CEO Leo Apotheker is reportedly on the verge of being ousted by the company’s board in favor of former EBay CEO and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The decision could come as early as Thursday when the company’s full board of directors is set to meet. The board was apparently unhappy with Apotheker’s tenure at helm of the world’s largest PC maker since taking over in late September 2010, namely Apotheker’s inability to stop HP stock from tanking as sales dried up.
Another breaking point for the board was apparently Apotheker’s leadership in the HP deal to acquire enterprise and legal firm software company Autonomy Corp for $10.3 billion on August 18, deemed the “largest-ever legal technology deal.” That deal came as HP said it was abandoning its recently-acquired WebOS mobile operating system and would consider spinning-off its core PC business.
(The abrupt WebOS killing has lead to a firesale of the HP TouchPad tablet and a lawsuit against the company by a shareholder.)
Meg Whitman, who is lately best remembered as the failed Republican contender in California’s 2010 gubernatorial election, despite record spending of $140 million, is reportedly interested in the job, according to All Things D.
Whitman’s gubernatorial campaign suffered a fatal blow from the scandal over her former housekeeper’s claims that Whitman abused her emotionally and financially. But Whitman settled that case for $5,500 in November and has since been biding her time consulting at venture firm Kleiner Perkins. In January, she was invited to join HP’s board of directors.
Whitman’s resume as CEO of Ebay from 1998 to 2008 is still legendary in the tech business, as she oversaw the company’s rise from annual revenue of $4 billion to $8 billion and its purchase of PayPal.
On the plus side for the HP board, after the reports of the move first surfaced Wednesday night, HP shares spiked in after-hours trading from $22 to $24.
Apotheker, formerly the CEO of German enterprise giant SAP AG, has only been at HP about a year after taking over from disgraced former CEO Mark Hurd, who managed to double the company’s market cap but was forced out in August 2010 after being accused of sexual harassment. HP’s board voted to hire Apotheker without even meeting him, according to The New York Times.
