Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Leo Apotheker will have to find another job. As expected, the company fired him Thursday and replaced him with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.
HP’s board met this week to consider whether to remove the 58-year-old Apotheker, who led the company for less than a year. Thursday they followed through with what was anticipated.
News of the board meeting lifted the spirits of HP’s investors as the stock surged 9 percent on Wednesday to $24.55 (as of 2 p.m. ET), reflecting a significant rise about one month after the company announced it was exploring placing its PC business into a separate company through a spin-off or other transaction. Another big debacle was the unsuccessful acquisition of Palm, which HP hoped would make it a player in the mobile-device business.
Company stock was down about 5 percent Thursday, part of a big selloff on Wall Street tied to a fall in oil prices and general concern about the global economy.
HP’s shares (HPQ: NYSE) are down about 40 percent over the last year. A year ago, the stock closed at $39.92.
HP is the largest PC maker in the world and one of the biggest Fortune 500 companies.
For the full year fiscal 2011, Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP forecasts revenues in the range of $127.2 billion to $127.6 billion and diluted earnings per share of $3.59 to $3.70.
