DailyTech - Quick Note: Meg Whitman Says She Will Continue Apotheker's Plans for HP

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IT Quick Note: Meg Whitman Says She Will Continue Apotheker's Plans for HP
Jason Mick (Blog) - September 23, 2011 12:11 PM

37 comment(s) - last by NellyFromMA.. on Sep 28 at 11:15 AM

Meg Whitman says she wants to move ahead with her predecessor's plans to chop up HP, including cutting out its core personal computer business. (Source: Reuters (inset); Appetite Indulgence)

Company will still be place on the butcher's block with parts cut off and new ingredients added

Yesterday was seemingly a significant day for Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) with the board firing divisive CEO Léo Apotheker and pegging former eBay, Inc. (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman as his replacement. Now it looks like that move might have been more of a token gesture to placate angry shareholders than an actual sign of change.

Reuters reported mid-yesterday that insiders stated that HP executives had not deviated from plans to butcher the company, gutting the core Personal Systems Group in a spinoff and discarding the webOS devices business. That report was confirmed yesterday in a brief interview of new CEO Meg Whitman by Bloomberg Businessweek. The new CEO commented, "It [the leadership change] does not signal a change in the strategy. We are behind the actions that were taken on Aug. 18. We are firmly committed to Autonomy."

The news set investor pessimism to new highs. The unpopular plans and outrage at analysis that HP is grossly overpaying to buy UK software maker Autonomy, Corp. Plc. (LON:AU) sent shares plunging to new lows. Stock was down 4.4 percent in today's trading to beneath $21.80. Previously shares had hit a low of $22.22 -- a 47 drop from when Mr. Apotheker assumed the CEO position. Initially when news hit of Mr. Apotheker's departure, stock jumped to $24.92 on hopes that the leadership change might signal a course correction for HP.

If there's a ray of sunshine in the gloomy outlook for HP, it's that HP will owe Mr. Apotheker no severance pay, unlike previous CEO Mark Hurd who was given a severance package estimated to be worth between $25M and $50M USD.

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RE: idiots

By Parhel on 9/23/2011 10:57:29 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
It's just a policital response you do on your first interview on your first day at the job. If you read between the line she only mentionned Autonomy, i wouldn't be surprised if she changes her mind about the spinoff plan in a couple of week.

That makes no sense. She was brought on board because Apotheker was fired, and he was fired because his radical and wrong-headed plans were making investors jump ship.

This move is to calm investors down so HP doesn't go belly-up. Why would she give a false response to the main question every investor wants an answer to? HP can't just flat out lie to their investors when asked directly.

quote:
They are all idots though and the board is going to be axed! At such low stock price any rich investor could take over that company and fire everybody.

Stock price means nothing without considering number of shares outstanding. HP's market cap, as of right now, is about $45 billion. Start at 51% of that amount for a takeover, and then the sky's the limit once the market gets wind.

And at that price, who would want a directionless company that's limping its way to the grave? There will be no "rich investors" in this story. Only the US government would make such a bad investment.

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“Then they pop up and say ‘Hello, surprise! Give us your money or we will shut you down!' Screw them. Seriously, screw them. You can quote me on that.” -- Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng referencing patent trolls