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phoenixdave
Whatever the reason, he's their new $53 million dollar man...
Baolt
Well, it seems you are not alone, Larry Elison also made his point about this ...
HP names outsider as CEO
Mark Lapedus
9/30/2010 6:15 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Hewlett-Packard Co. has announced the election of Léo Apotheker as chief executive and president.
Apotheker, who previously served as CEO of SAP, will also join HP’s board. The board also elected Ray Lane, managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as a new member of the board and designated him as non-executive Chairman. Both elections are effective Nov. 1.
During Apotheker’s more than 20 years at SAP, he was a driving force in making it the largest business software applications company in the world.
Apotheker will succeed Cathie Lesjak, who was named interim CEO in August 2010. Lesjak, who has served as HP’s chief financial Officer since January 2007, remains CFO and continues to serve as a member of the executive council.
In August, HP announced that Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd resigned his positions effective immediately. Hurd’s decision was made following an investigation by outside legal counsel and the general counsel’s Office, overseen by the board, of the facts and circumstances surrounding a claim of sexual harassment against Hurd and HP by a former contractor to HP.
Hurd has landed as president of Oracle Corp.
Apotheker, who previously served as CEO of SAP, will also join HP’s board. The board also elected Ray Lane, managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as a new member of the board and designated him as non-executive Chairman. Both elections are effective Nov. 1.
During Apotheker’s more than 20 years at SAP, he was a driving force in making it the largest business software applications company in the world.
Apotheker will succeed Cathie Lesjak, who was named interim CEO in August 2010. Lesjak, who has served as HP’s chief financial Officer since January 2007, remains CFO and continues to serve as a member of the executive council.
In August, HP announced that Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Mark Hurd resigned his positions effective immediately. Hurd’s decision was made following an investigation by outside legal counsel and the general counsel’s Office, overseen by the board, of the facts and circumstances surrounding a claim of sexual harassment against Hurd and HP by a former contractor to HP.
Hurd has landed as president of Oracle Corp.
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Baolt
9/30/2010 6:52 PM EDT
i woundnt shock if the company would be Microsoft, or Adobe but it HP. Worlds 1 of the biggest electronics company not software giant. Someone who is outside the market, and kicked out by managing board is not the perfect choice.
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resistion
10/1/2010 12:58 AM EDT
Yeah, surprised here as well. Hardware types must not like it at all.
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phoenixdave
9/30/2010 7:06 PM EDT
A business software applications person leading a hardware-focused company like HP should be interesting. Wonder if this provides a clue on future strategic changes at HP coming down the line?
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BalaLak
10/1/2010 3:59 AM EDT
Yep it certainly sounds that way. How much 'hardware' is HP designing on its own currently vs. 10 years ago? Bulk of the hardware designs is done ODMs anyway. So, software perhaps is more important for success.
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Sheetal.Pandey
9/30/2010 10:54 PM EDT
May be he can bring in the best of hardware and software business afterall HP and SAP both are dominant in their teritories.
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yalanand
10/1/2010 12:54 AM EDT
How difficult or easy is it to head a hardware company when you have software background ?
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medsanm
10/1/2010 5:38 AM EDT
a software guy can never understand SW like some coolies in india
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ylshih
10/1/2010 1:55 AM EDT
Sometimes an outsider can do good things, just because of the change of perspective; other times the poor cultural fit and lack of industry expertise becomes a stumbling block, depending on the new CEO's ego. Certainly the software and services sectors at HP are substantial, but hardware still dominates. The initial stock market reaction is that it isn't a good fit.
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agk
10/1/2010 2:55 AM EDT
Most comments were about suiting an experience in software to both hardware and software. CEO levels one need to view differently. They just need to steer the operations in the right direction and almost all the feed back for that comes from the various divisions of the company mostly from the marketting side.So i feel Mr.Apotheker will be able to easily pick up the scent of the Hardware also. My best wishes to him.
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kinnar
10/1/2010 7:09 AM EDT
Yes, I absolutely does not require a Hardware Person to lead a Hardware Firm, the person HP has selected had proven the SAP on many fronts, and he will be able to show HP some different heights as well.
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mark.lapedus
10/1/2010 11:05 AM EDT
HP keeps making the same mistake. They keep going outside to find a CEO. As a result, HP continues to lose the ''HP Way'' defined by
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Following those legends, HP named insiders John Young and Lew Platt as CEOs. Then, HP loses the way with Carly Fiorina, and, to some degree, Mark Hurd. Hurd was a good operations guy. Not sure the new guy is a good idea. Thoughts?
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phoenixdave
10/1/2010 3:51 PM EDT
Perhaps they do not have the confidence in their staff that Bill and Dave had when they started the company. If that is true, it is very sad for the likely very talented staff. If it is not, than it seems to indicate that they feel the company is going in the wrong direction and needs a change of perspective. Guess time will tell.
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selinz
10/1/2010 12:22 PM EDT
This does not make sense to me at all. Of course, time will tell. But it seems as though HP would want to hire a technologist, rather than a software guy...
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Mark Wehrmeister
10/1/2010 2:55 PM EDT
It makes perfect sense for the larger server part of HP's product line. Companies don't by servers just to have them. They buy them to run enterprise software like SAP. Léo Apotheker should have a good understanding of the customers HP serves on the hardware and services side of their business. That said, it is disappointing that Mark Hurd had not been grooming a successor(s) while he was at HP. That should be one of the primary roles of the CEO of a large publicly held company like HP.
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Warren
10/1/2010 6:18 PM EDT
I think people are missing the irony here... Oracle picks up Hurd making HP *very* unhappy. Now HP picks up SAP's former CEO; there are few people who know Oracle better than SAP. Of course you don't install someone to be your CEO just to poke another company in the eye... but its ironic at least.
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Baolt
10/1/2010 7:42 PM EDT
Well, it seems you are not alone, Larry Elison also made his point about this choice also, in a insulting manner. (tinyurl.com/2dvssz9)
There will be long discussions about this move it seems. Everybody will search for faults, failures of new CEO. Besides i can understand the perspective of being afraid to loose market share towards Oracle, yet u are right. Its dam' ironic.
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phoenixdave
10/1/2010 8:01 PM EDT
Whatever the reason, he's their new $53 million dollar man...
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