Andre Yoskowitz
22 Sep 2011 13:15
Kara Swisher has reported today that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will be named the new CEO of HP.
Current CEO Leo Apotheker will be fired after just 11 months on the job.
As reported yesterday, in his 11 months on the job, Apotheker has lost HP $20 billion in market value while slashing sales forecasts three times.
Apotheker, who had a failed stint as CEO of software giant SAP, has recently purchased Autonomy for $10 billion, a move that has been completely criticized by all shareholders due to its huge price tag. The CEO also shut down webOS and firesaled their tablets at $99, just a few months after the company's acquisition of the mobile OS from Palm.
Sources say Whitman will be hired for the long-term, not just an interim position as speculated.
Says one source:
Meg is not someone who wants to be a steward of a process to find another CEO for HP. She wants to run the company and be a strong leader for what she considers an important tech powerhouse.