At HP, another (CEO) bites the dust

As expected, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) fired CEO Leo Apotheker after just 11 months on the job and quickly named former eBay CEO Meg Whitman to the top spot.

HP is already taking heat for naming Whitman CEO without a deeper search for a new leader, a move HP Chairman Ray Lane said wasn't needed since the board had so recently conducted a search before settling on Apotheker.

Whitman becomes the eighth chief executive for HP since 1999. She joined the board this year and made her name as CEO of eBay, where she served 10 years before leaving in 2008.

Apotheker has been under a microscope for his entire tenure and was roundly criticized for his plans to dump HPs computer business as well as for a $10 billion bid he spearheaded for Autonomy.

Surprisingly, Whitman said she continues to support her predecessor's strategy, a pronouncement that might not sit well with investors and customers who also have cast aspersions at the board's lack of direction.

For more:
- see this WSJ article

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