Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close • Hacker News Board

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#21

Post by Raphael » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #11

bane wrote: post #3

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

what a waste of time his entire tenure has been The stock has gone down 47%, and he will walk away with approximately thirty million dollars. “Waste of time” doesn’t quite capture my thoughts about his tenure. http://allthingsd.com/20110921/what-will-leo-apotheker-walk-...

Colossal failure?

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#22

Post by sudonim » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

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?

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#23

Post by mdanger » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:40 PM UTC

Cringley's article from February: http://www.cringely.com/2011/02/why-leo-apotheker-will-be-fi...

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#24

Post by protomyth » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:42 PM UTC

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.

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.

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#25

Post by rbanffy » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:42 PM UTC

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."

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#26

Post by thematt » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:48 PM UTC

pessimist wrote: post #19

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? Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard - not to mention Steve Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg etc. - e…

I agree completely, which is why I don't own HP stock. From my perspective it shouldn't really bother me unless I'm an HP shareholder and it's my money they're playing with. If the company wants to waste tens of millions cycling through a new CEO every year or two -- so be it. It'll be that much easier for a competitor to eat their lunch. If the shareholders cared enough they would throw out the board of directors.

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#27

Post by A-K » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:49 PM UTC

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.

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#28

Post by cynicalkane » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:50 PM UTC

pessimist wrote: post #19

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? Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard - not to mention Steve Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg etc. - e…

Imagine if you worked for BigCo, and one day your boss says to you, "You're fired... and we're also taking back your stock options and severance pay."

Because that's what you're proposing doing to a CEO. Yeah, they're rich and proportionally more of their pay is comprised of non-salary items. Oh well. Yeah, you don't like what HP executive management did to the company. I agree, it sucks. But in the real world, people negotiate trading work for pay, and you can't just yank it back because you didn't like the work.

(Unless you negotiate some provision to do so, which some companies do. But not HP.)

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#29

Post by DevX101 » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:51 PM UTC

Am I the only one noticing some latent sexism in some of these comments?

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.

I don't think anyone here would seriously question that Eric Schmidt could run HP (not that he'd want to).

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.

So is it me, or am I reading to much into this?

Re: Whitman Expected to Get HP CEO Nod After Markets Close

#30

Post by pessimist » Thu, Sep 22, 2011, 5:52 PM UTC

cynicalkane wrote: post #28

pessimist wrote: post #19

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? Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard - not to mention Steve Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg etc. - e…

Imagine if you worked for BigCo, and one day your boss says to you, "You're fired... and we're also taking back your stock options and severance pay." Because that's what you're proposing doing to a CEO. Yeah, they're rich and proportionally more of their pay is comprised of non-salary items. Oh well. Yeah, you don't like what HP executive management did to the company. I agree, it sucks. But in the real world, peopl…

Well, if I get fired, my unvested stock options certainly dont suddenly vest. And I dont get any severance pay. So yes, I propose that CEO's get exactly that treatment.