HP may oust CEO, hire eBay veteran

NEW YORK, USA: Hewlett-Packard Co’s board convened on Wednesday to consider ousting chief executive officer Leo Apotheker after less than a year on the job and replacing him temporarily with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a source said.

HP’s board of directors – facing shareholder lawsuits and intensifying criticism from investors – is thrashing out a host of issues, including whether to name Whitman as the interim CEO, the source told Reuters,

The storied Silicon Valley giant is fighting to restore its crumbling credibility. During his 11-month tenure, Apotheker slashed sales forecasts repeatedly, backtracked on promises to integrate Palm’s webOS software into devices, and struggled to halt a 50 per cent plunge in the share price.

No decisions have yet been made about leadership, the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Wall Street roared its approval, sending HP shares up 6.6 per cent to close at $23.96, a gain of $3 billion in the company’s market value.

If Apotheker is let go, he would be the third CEO in a row to be ousted by the board of the largest US technology company by sales.