NEW YORK – Agence France-Presse
Meg Whitman, the newly appointed HP president, poses during an event at the University of California.
Hewlett-Packard on Thursday named Meg Whitman its new president and chief executive officer, replacing Leo Apotheker at the helm of the world’s biggest computer maker. Whitman, 55, had stepped down in 2008 at eBay.
“We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitman’s caliber and experience step up to lead HP,” said Ray Lane, who was named executive chairman of HP. “ Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution.”
The shakeup comes with HP struggling for direction despite its leadership in the PC business.
Katy Huberty, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said the change was “a step towards regaining credibility” but warned that “the path to a full recovery of investors’ faith in management and the company’s earnings power will take several quarters, if not longer.”
Apotheker took over HP in November and has been refocusing the company on software and cloud services. But HP shares have fallen more than 40 percent since he took the helms. The shares plunged 20 percent on a single day last month after Apotheker announced a dramatic shakeup that includes spinning off the PC business.
HP announced on Aug. 18 it was exploring a spin-off of its PC unit and buying British enterprise software company Autonomy for $10.24 billion as it refocuses on software and technology solutions. In a further move away from the consumer space, HP said that it was stopping production of its TouchPad tablet computer and phones based on the webOS mobile operating system acquired from Palm last year for $1.2 billion.

(Source: www.hurriyetdailynews.com )