Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

The really disgusting part is that these CEO's have absolutely nothing to lose. If Meg Whitman gets this job she is basically guaranteed 10's of millions of dollars - whether or not she ruins the company. Carly Fiorina, Mark Hurd, Leo Apotheker and the ex-Compaq CEO (Capellas?) all walked away with 20+ million dollars. And for what?<p>Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard - not to mention Steve Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg etc. - earned their billions with brilliant and gutsy decision making, while these parasites earned their money by being better schmoozers than their business school classmates.

There was an article I read about this yesterday on one of the big tech websites, I'm not sure which one. HP basically hired a guy that was good at something, and operated in a certain way, and now that he's doing it, they're firing him. Granted, not everything has been well-executed, but come on, its like buying a motorcycle and then returning it because it isn't air-conditioned.

During Whitman's gubernatorial campaign there was a great quote on SFGate, something like: "Meg Whitman is the only force in the universe that could compel me to vote for Jerry Brown." I felt the same way, pretty much.<p>I don't know much about her work at eBay, but the distant, autocratic way she ran her campaign -- she didn't get out and talk to people, she just stayed in her castle and put out ads -- strikes me as the antithesis of the management style needed by a company in crisis.

Good grief. This reflects far worse on the board than anyone else- they hired the wrong guy, and then fired him when he did the things he said he would do.

I'm sure she will do for HP's reputation what she did for PayPal, and build value like she did with Skype.

So effectively Apotheker was brought in, trashed Palm, spun off the PC division, and now is getting the boot? The suggestion that HP replace the entirety of its upper management, Apple-circa-1996-style, is becoming more and more credible.

Back when I was doing e-commerce, a large percentage of my revenue was on eBay from '05-'09. I didn't realize how stagnant the platform was until John Donahoe replaced Whitman and finally changes were made to increase safety for buyers and differentiate sellers in the marketplace. I don't think ebay would have lost so much 3rd-party seller market share to Amazon if Whitman had been proactive.<p>I don't know what the HP board is hoping for by hiring Whitman as CEO, but if it's anything other than "steady as she goes," then I think they are making a bad choice.

Normally I like hires within, but hiring a board member is just trouble. Particularly one who has been around for the total collapse of the stock. Apple had a natural and trained successor in-house and was running smoothly, HP needs a product guy who can articulate a new HP way.<p>Ms. Whitman is just the wrong person. Heck, I am not fond about his time at Apple or Be, but Jean-Louis Gassée (if he has learned price does matter) would be a better choice from the product side. He would need a strong CFO and COO to make it work. Not ideal but better.

I have much respect for Meg Whitman, but she is not an ideal pick for HP. Her experience is with consumer companies -- eBay, P&#38;G, Disney...Especially if HP spins off its PC business, that leaves the company as essentially a pure enterprise hardware/software play. Don't do it HP.

My favorite quote in this conversation so far: "[Ms. Whitman] is bit of a lightning rod in Silicon Valley, where founders are allowed to have outsize personalities but mere managers are not." <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/technology/idea-of-whitman-at-hp-distresses-the-tech-world.html?_r=1&#38;pagewanted=all" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/technology/idea-of-whitma...</a>

When I read the headline, I was hoping for another Whitman. Alas, it was the one I feared. Meg Whitman has never struck me as a visionary CEO who can fix a broken company. It seems like if this goes through, HP will be relegated to a slow death. Whitman will get out with a golden parachute and HP will be on to the next person who will suck some blubber out of a dying whale. Am I too cynical?

God help those poor souls still stuck at HP. The gubernatorial campaign exposed all sorts of character flaws and showed that Whitman has a complete lack of empathy for people who work for her.

The HP board is less organized than my local kickball league.

This strikes me as a hire very much in the same vein as Bartz at Yahoo. Successful with on particular type of tech company doesn't mean success with another. (Apotheker being a similar example).<p>Whitman could be very competent and turn things around, she sends likely a good message to wall street. But if I were the king of HP I'd be looking for someone who's got way more domain experience.

Worst tech BoD ever: HP or Yahoo? I'm thinking this pushes HP over the line.

I really hoped her disastrous run for governor of CA would be the last thing the public ever heard from her. Her hilariously stupid decisions during the acquisition of Skype made me think she would have very little future after eBay. It boggles my mind that the HP board would even briefly consider her... What HP really needs is a new board and a new CEO...

Cringley's article from February: <a href="http://www.cringely.com/2011/02/why-leo-apotheker-will-be-fired-from-hewlett-packard/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cringely.com/2011/02/why-leo-apotheker-will-be-fi...</a>

The most depressing part? "He will be fired, of course, with a nice, big (and appalling, considering the 47 drop in HP stock in his tensure) severance package as a goodbye-on-your-way out."

HP should buy Yahoo and then both companies can spiral down until their stock is low enough to be picked up by AOL

Does this mean they'll bring back the TouchPad? Is it even possible, given the people they just laid off from that team?

So wait, is Apotheker out yet or not?<p>Either way, what a waste of time his entire tenure has been.

Am I the only one noticing some latent sexism in some of these comments?<p>I view Whitman's role with Ebay as comparable to Eric Schmidt and Google. Both joined about 2 years about their respective companies were founded and made them #1 in each of their target sectors.<p>I don't think anyone here would seriously question that Eric Schmidt could run HP (not that he'd want to).<p>But reading through these comments, I'm getting the impression people think she's unqualified to run HP, even with her impressive track record and having been on the board of HP to understand what's actually happening there.<p>So is it me, or am I reading to much into this?