Fiorina loathing gearing up in HP

The opposition to the HP-Compaq merger by the Hewlett family very likely

spells the end of Carly Fiorina's reign at Hewlett-Packard. The HP board of

directors should know, if they didn't already after the Pricewaterhouse Cooper

merger debacle, that Fiorina is not the person to lead this once great company.

The sooner they drop the axe on her the better for the company, its

shareholders, employees, and customers.

Fiorina has done only one thing very well in her 2+ years, and that is to

alienating herself from the HP's employees she has not yet laid off. A universal

dislike of her exists today at HP that no smooth public relations campaign can

mask. Those voices of discontent became amplified to a deafening level when

Walter Hewlett announced his decision to oppose the Compaq merger.

If Walter was just another big shareholder, that would be one thing. But he

is a member of the board. And when the Packard family has to hire lawyers to

help make up its mind on the merger, then you know that that family too is

struggling with the immense decision of committing mutiny. Mutiny means chaos

and uncertainty. That is never good for business. But sooner or later a new CEO

will be appointed and the rebuilding process can commence. That is a far better

scenario than keeping up the support for a CEO who is universally disliked by

the company's staff and Wall Street and who not shown any signs of being able to

stem, let alone turn around the company's financial decline.

I would not be surprised if Fiorina is asked to leave in the very near

future, weeks rather than months, as the pressure from Wall Street on the board

of directors has been turned up dramatically in the aftermath of the Hewlett

announcement.