HP Board Decides to Axe Apothekar as CEO

Hewlett Packard Co.’s (NYSE:HPQ)board has planned to replacing the current chief executive officer Leo Apotheker with the former chief executive officer of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), Meg Whitman on a permanent basis said a source with the knowledge of the discussions at the board meeting on Thursday.

The board of Hewlett Packard was set to have a meeting on Thursday morning, followed by the formal announcement in the afternoon. There were informal discussions regarding the current CEO for more than a week and it was convened by the board during its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday. One of the sources under the condition of anonymity said that even the Thursday’s meeting was scheduled well in advance.

Meg Whitman became a part of the H-P board earlier this year after her stint as the chief executive officer of eBay until 2008. She had also run for the election of governor of California as a Republican candidate unsuccessfully in the previous year.

When contacted seeking a comment regarding the developments, the spokesperson for Hewlett Packard did not respond immediately. Leo Apotheker has served as the CEO for a period of 11 months, during which the company went through a turbulent phase with its market value being cut in half. Earlier last month, Mr. Apotheker had announced the company’s plan to sell or split its personal computers business in order to revamp the company with the consent of the board members. He had also announced the company’s planes to acquire Autonomy Corp., a United Kingdom based Software Company for about $ 10.3 billion. He was actively supported by the board members even when the investors were crying foul and the stock price fell.

Up on hearing the news of proposed ouster of Apotheker, HP’s shares soared on Wednesday. This move by the board is bound to raise few questions regarding the governance by the board which was criticized earlier for the way Mark Hurd, Mr. Apotheker’s predecessor was dismissed for his relationship with a contractor after conducting an internal investigation.

Mr. Apotheker had come under scrutiny after he agreed to a hefty premium for Autonomy Corp. and announced his plans to spin off the company’s personal computers business and cancelled the manufacturing of the company’s smartphones and tablets.

Ms. Whitman, who is considered to be Apotheker’s successor had been with Hasbro Inc.(NASDAQ:HAS), The Stride Rite Corp. and Florists Transworld delivery followed by eBay where she served as the CEO until March 2008.

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.