Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman was appointed head of HP. She replaces Leo Apotheker, after just one year of service. A change of the head that doesn’t tell too much to the world about the strategy of HP.
An year ago, Leo Apotheker and his management strategy was designated to succeed Mark Hurd, which has been fired because of an “inappropriately relationship” with a collaborator. Now the board of world number one PC manufacturer replaces Leo with Meg Whitman, a member from the Board of Directors and former eBay boss.
HP
“We are at a critical time and we need to renew our leadership in order to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of market opportunities ahead,” said Ray Layne, chairman of the board of directors of HP. It remains to be seen what strategy they will choose.
HP to Reassure markets, says Meg Withman
Will be kept Leo Apotheker’s idea , to separate the PC manufacturing business from the rest of the group and to focus on business services? Nothing is less certain. The confusion lays over the intentions of the board of HP.
With a drop of nearly 50% of the share price in one year, the urgency was to send a signal to markets by calling a sure bet on the U.S. IT business. After trying unsuccessfully to run for the seat of governor of California during the 2009 elections, the former eBay boss is back in the foreground with a mission to restore confidence in HP’s strategy regarding both segments of the fastest growing market for mobile devices : smartphones and tablets.
Over the past 1O years at the head of eBay, from 1998 to 2007, she transformed the giant auction site e-commerce world, with revenues rising from nearly 5 million to over 7 billion.
Leo Apotheker and Meg Whitman
Meg Whitman will be the second woman to head HP after Carly Fiorina , who led the group in Palo Alto between 1999 and 2005. But let us remind that eBay is not a giant player in the technology industry.
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