HP CEO Carly Fiorina to Step Down

ewwhite was the first of a tidal wave of readers to submit links telling us that HP Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina will step down, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Robert Wayman will be interim CEO, Hewlett-Packard said in a Business Wire statement today. Patricia Dunn will be chairwoman. Not much else in the story.

more info

[ack154]

From CBS Marketwatch [marketwatch.com]:

"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement.

adios

[Alien Being]

My work here [yahoo.com] is done.

She was forced out

[fishdan]

According to the Business Standard she was forced out. [business-standard.com]

"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said a statement. "HP is a great company, and I wish all the people of HP much success in the future."

There have been other shakeups in personel [ft.com] at HP leading to speculation that there is something wrong. You have to wonder if all the [com.com] animosity she accrued [com.com] while making the HP/Compaq merger happen [computerworld.com] has finally been returned.

Meatier article

[Erect Horsecock]

Here [usatoday.com]

Some more details in AP story

[Anonymous Coward]

See the AP version of the story here [msn.com] via MSNBC.

What a surprise....NOT

[FunWithHeadlines]

She was the big mover behind HP's merger with Compaq, even being accused of underhanded deals to get the vote pushed through [macnewsworld.com]. Like all such mergers, things rarely go as well as people anticipate. And with the loss in recent years of the "HP Way" that they were famous for, she basically failed. I'm not a bit surprised she was forced out.

Re:Let me be the first to say

[BigGerman]

Interesting that Dunn has no technology experience whatsoever
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/ [hp.com]

BBC Article

[Chris_Keene]

BBC brief article here [bbc.co.uk]

Somone else posted a yahoo finace chart showing HP, IBM, dell. and oh my sweet fucking god, I added Sun to laugh at the steep slope to down, and their share price is going up. So, to get my 'steep slope' kick I added SCO as well...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=HPQ&l=on&z=m& q=l&c=ibm%2Cdell%2Csun%2Cscox [yahoo.com]

Re:That's too bad [Of course there are others]

[tyrione]

CEO of Lucent Technologies Inc.
Patricia Russo
(http://www.lucent.com/corpinfo/bios/russo.html)

CIO of Lucent Technologies Inc.
Ruth Bruch
(http://www.lucent.com/corpinfo/bios/bruch.html)

Board of Directors
http://www.lucent.com/corpinfo/leaders.html

Re:NPR dancing a jig?

[http101]

Honestly, having seen the inside operations of how HP is run, I can tell you, they're happy simply because Carly is gone. She's cut corners like you wouldn't believe. Did you know that their consumers have better computers than what's in their tech support centers in the Houston RDC?

Carly has taken it on herself to ensure techs are NOT able to do their jobs by implementing stupid tools like "ATM" or the Automated Technology Manager to replace the MMC snap-ins for Active Directory. VPN support for employees is utilized only through a "signed" proprietary program which is a pain in the ass to support because it either breaks or totally f*cks up a person's NT account. Their financial center is run completely on VMS and locks out users repeatedly. As for pager/cellphone support, the company gives you one, but you have to pay for the services. If you don't want a pager or cell, they give you a Blackberry which is linked to their own Blackberry service towers running Blackberry Server v1.0 while the rest of the world has upgraded their software 10-fold. I only say this as an example of how she's neglected certain aspects of the company's functionality just to put a couple more nickels in her purse.

I don't know about you, but when I get home, there's a beer with my name on it!

Re:That's too bad

[SiO2]

How about Meg Whitman [ebay.com] of eBay?

SiO2

Re:That's too bad

[YrWrstNtmr]

eBay
Mary Kay
Oprah
Avon
Hearst Magazines
Playboy

One job I like to see 'lost'

[failedlogic]

I am not a former HP and Compaq employee but this is one job I like to see being lost after the mergers. If let to go on, Fionrina would have completely bankrupt the company.

She is a destructive CEO. That is what you get for hiring someone who's first degree is Medieval history! ;)

The only reason that the company was "well" off was with her is that it was a relatively strong company to begin with. She in no way, has the ability to build up a company like HP or to re-create it.

Fiorina was too unbalanced in her descisions. She would vote something out, people would be fired, and then she tried to retract saying "That wasn't such a good idea".

As someone who sells HP printers - as well as other brands - its sad to see the current state of their printer division. They are no where near as good as they were. The old printers were built like tanks. It gets harder to recommend their brand (unless someone insists).

Someone with direction and a vision needs to take over.

Re:Investors

[j0eshm0e]

I thought we liked Carly? http://www.linux-mag.com/2002-02/fiorina_01.html [linux-mag.com]

What am I going to do with all these signs?

Re:NPR dancing a jig?

[Ngwenya]

ObDisc: I work for HP, but clearly I'm writing here in a personal capacity

Carly has taken it on herself to ensure techs are NOT able to do their jobs by implementing stupid tools like "ATM" or the Automated Technology Manager to replace the MMC snap-ins for Active Directory.

WTF? Dude, ATM long preceded Active Directory. The Atlanta team had ATM operational back in 1997 when I joined the company. And ATM feeds the Enterprise Directory, which is not AD based. Yes, we have more than one directory, because AD is inherently tied to NOS operations, whereas ED is tied to internal operations.

VPN support for employees is utilized only through a "signed" proprietary program which is a pain in the ass to support because it either breaks or totally f*cks up a person's NT account.

VPN support is via the Nortel Contivity box, which is IPsec based. Yes, the certificates are signed - what else could they be? And it's not tied to your NT account in any fashion, since it needs an ActivCard OTP to work. The newer VPN is just vanilla MSRA (although the old Compaq PPTP is still around).

You want to cut into Carly - go ahead. Don't bother me none. But leave tech decisions which predate Carly's time out of it. Blame her for the merger, the stock price, the ink cartridge strategy or whatever - but individual IT decisions? Sorry - that isn't something that can be laid at Carly's door.

--Ng

PS: And if my other HP colleagues could hear me say all of this, they'd have me slammed as the worlds worst hypocrite for all I've bellyached and bitched about Carly.

Recent Speculation

[null etc.]

The following is an excerpt from the article entitled, "HP: We're not changing Fiorina's job", posted Jan 24, 2005 on CNet news.com.

http://news.com.com/HP+Were+not+changing+Fiorinas+ job/2100-7341_3-5547456.html [com.com]

Company representatives labeled stories of a pending management reorganization as unfounded and disputed a Wall Street Journal report that said HP's directors were considering a shift that would delegate some of Fiorina's duties to other executives.

...

"Boards discuss a wide range of topics consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities, and any speculation about these discussions is just that--pure speculation," [HP spokesman Robert] Sherbin said. "While the board did discuss structural changes at its recent meeting, there are no other senior changes due in the near future."

Guess two weeks isn't considered the "near future", huh.

"You don't know; the news last week could have been the first shoe to drop in a larger movement to recalculate leadership at HP, but executive ability didn't seem to be the issue with that move, so much as responding to market conditions," [IDC analyst Roger] Kay said. "Some people have been calling for (Fiorina's ouster) since before the Compaq deal, but I don't see why making such a move right now would necessarily be helpful to the company."

How much money do you make, Roger? I hope you're being paid for something useful.

So it seems that rumors and whispers are often a much more useful prediction of stock performance than industry spokesmen and analysts.

Re:more info

[null etc.]

She was worth negative $7 billion to HPQ's value.

It's easy to see why. I really wish I had the link on hand to share with you, but not even 10 minutes of Googling helped me find a hilarious interview with Carly I read a year ago. It went something like this:

Interviewer: So what is this "Adaptive Enterprise" you're talking about?

Carly: It means that technology is used to fulfill business requirements, and it adapts to changes in business needs.

Interviewer: Isn't that what all technology does?

Carly: No. Today, business needs are forced to adapt to technology, not the other way around.

Interviewer: Are you sure about that? I think IBM and Accenture make alot of money adapting technology to business needs.

Carly: Uhm, yeah I'm sure, today the technology doesn't adapt to business needs. Adaptive Enterprise is all about having technology adapt to business needs.

Interviewer: So, what does that mean exactly? Can you give us some specifics?

Carly: Like, it means if your business needs aren't being met by technology, and you have Adaptive Enterprise, Adaptive Enterprise will adapt to your business needs.

Interviewer: Isn't that what consulting companies like IBM and Accenture do?

Carly: No, because Adaptive Enterprise is like a faucet that you can turn on or off if you need more or less computer power.

Interviewer: So what does that mean, exactly? How can you turn technology on or off like a faucet?

Carly: Adaptive Enterprise is when technology adjusts to meet the demands of business needs.

Anyways, suffice to say, the interview was totally hilarious and played Carly off as a real idiot.

Re:Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[drinkypoo]

You really think itanic support is important? I suspect the only way HP can be convinced to make systems with Itanium is if they have some kind of agreement with intel. Itanic is useful only for scientific systems that need lots of FP. Otherwise, you're many times better off with an opteron. The chip is cheaper, and the machine it goes in is cheaper. CDE/OpenVMS? Are you on drugs? Show me someone who actually wants CDE.

Now here's another thought for you: ATX is a standard. Abandoning ATX would be stupid to say the least. There's no reason you can't just leave some space around the edge of the board and make a slide-in ATX motherboard. This makes a lot more sense than redesigning standards.

The Opteron manufacturing rights vs. Alpha IP thing makes sense, but I don't necessarily see any reason that AMD would go for it.

Re:more info

[Anonymous Coward]

According to CNN money, she will receive a payout of $21 million, not including stock options.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/09/technolo gy/hp_fior ina/index.htm?cnn=yes

and MIT too [Re:That's too bad]

[Bubblehead]

MIT's president Susan Hockfield [mit.edu].

Re:more info

[pizzaman100]

What must be really depressing for her is that (as of this writing) HP's stock is up more than 11 percent in pre-market trading today. That's nearly a $7 billion increase in market cap - how depressing for her. She was worth negative $7 billion to HPQ's value.

Since she owns 852,912 [yahoo.com] shares of HPQ, she might not be terribly depressed. ;)

Re:more info

[johnlcallaway]

Your last comment is purely delusional. It would be just dandy if any company that is going down the tubes can just keep the same people around and pay them the same salary and things would just turn out fine. Reality is different and companies have fired/terminated/downsized for hundreds of years.

If YOU have not prepared yourself to be out of a job for 3-6 months at any point it time, have gotten yourself so far into debt with two car payments, credit card debt, 3% down mortgages, and whatever that you need 90% of your paycheck just to survive, YOU have no one to blame but yourself. If YOU work for a public company and don't know the impact of the stock market on your job, YOU have no one to blame but yourself. If YOU know your job is tenuous, but don't take the steps to either eliminate your debt, put money aside, or find another job, YOU have no one to blame but yourself.

Stop being irresponsible and take responsibility of YOUR decisions, or lack of knowledge.

Re:more info

[Anonymous Coward]

Not to mention that she did NOT limit herself to duplicate jobs. I was part of the processor design group. We were trying to hire people because we were overworked, and the merger forced us to cut 15% of our workforce. We didn't have a duplicate group come in from Compaq. We just lost good people for no good reason.

History is the most popular degree for CEOs

[westendgirl]

In addition to a BA, Fiorina also holds holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a master of science from MIT's Sloan Business School -- according to the HP website. She also briefly attended law school at UCLA.

For what it's worth, history is the most popular degree among CEOs of Fortune 500 firms. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano has a BA in history. Patricia Russo (Lucent) has a bachelors in history. So does Donna Dubinsky (Handspring, Palm). I could turn up more names, but I don't have time to go through every CEO's bio.

To complete a degree in history, you need to have strong research, analysis, writing and verbal communication skills (for presentations). You have to be able to identify patterns, form strong arguments, and pour over huge amounts of reading material. Those are skills that any business person needs, especially in the tech sector, where things change rapidly.

Disclaimer: I have a BA in English, followed by an MBA.

Re:more info

[ipxodi]

ummm... according to this [forbes.com] she has a BA in Medieval studies, but also a Masters from MIT's Sloan school and a Masters in Business from U of Maryland.

I think the more advanced degrees are the ones pertinent to her career at HP, AT&T and Lucent.

Re:When your CEO quits

[LaCosaNostradamus]

That's a good question. The partial answer is that for the 2 years after she was hired in July 1999, HP's share price climbed. Of course, this was part of the general market "irrational exuberance", but as far as the executive class was concerned, they were being rewarded by the market. After 2001, of course, the stock entered an era of decline that continues today.

The other part of the full answer is that Fiorina should have been fired by late 2002 or early 2003. She had had more than enough time after the general market crash to "show her stuff" and demonstrate that HP can innovate itself out of a general market malaise. She failed. And we can then firmly blame the BoD for not removing their highly non-performing CEO at that time.

Fiorina's departure in early 2005 -- FOUR YEARS INTO THE ERA OF TROUBLE -- only demonstrates the sheer incompetence of HP's BoD. If the stockholders have any real balls, they will replace the entire Board, invite Packard back, rebuild a Board around him for lean times, and then give the general order to go head-chopping through the HP-Compaq executive class (since there's another class of non-performers).

Do HP's stockholders have the minerals for it? I'm betting "no".

Re:Not much to say, but ..

[Paracelcus]

And I quote the greedy bitch: "Americans have no God Given right to A job".

A true representation of what's wrong with the pin stripe suited paracitic pukes that take multimillion dollar bonuses while laying off thousands of workers.

Fuck her and the horse she rode in on!

End of rant...

Re:more info

[jhylkema]

I think the more advanced degrees are the ones pertinent to her career at HP, AT&T and Lucent.

Well, considering her (non) stewardship of those companies, that's not exactly a ringing endorsement. Lessee here . . . HPQ is a mess after the acquisition, T is about to be purchased, and LU is a shadow of its former self. The latter's most recent claim to fame is that, under her watch, it paid the second largest securities fraud settlement [stanford.edu] in history.

We mere mortals who fuck up that badly get fired and blackballed from the industry, or in the case of lawyers, end up in the sports section [wsba.org]. Not to worry, though: Fiorina will find another company willing to let her run it into the ground, that is, if HPQ doesn't keep her on as a "consultant" for the low, low price of, oh, twenty grand a month or so.

Personally, I think the only reason they hired her is because she's a chick and they wanted to appear "progressive" and "diverse." Well, she did what every woman does when she's depressed, she went shopping. What do the call it, "retail therapy"? Except that here, retail therapy is costing many thousands of people their livelihoods. Looks like William Hewlett was right in opposing the merger.

Re:more info

[gilgongo]

There was a considerably less hilarious, but almost equally opaque, piece by her that appeared in the Economist's "The World In 2005" this January entitled "Totally Digital."

In it, Ms Fiorina trudged through various "Look out, techology is going to change everything!" moo-hah, backed by just about zero evidence, predictive courage or indeed much logic. I thought it was the weakest article I've ever seen in an Economist publication. Here's a choice clip:

"And it [technology!] will change democracy. Today millions of consumers vote for "American Idol" finalists using their mobile phones. How long before they expect to cast ballots the same way?"

Zzzzz.There was a considerably less hilarious, but almost equally opaque, piece by her that appeared in the Economist's "The World In 2005" this January entitled "Totally Digital."

In it, Ms Fiorina trudged through various "Look out, technology is going to change everything!" moo-hah, backed by just about zero evidence, predictive courage or indeed much logic. I thought it was the weakest article I've ever seen in an Economist publication. Here's a choice clip:

"And it [technology!] will change democracy. Today millions of consumers vote for "American Idol" finalists using their mobile phones. How long before they expect to cast ballots the same way?"

Zzzzz.