Cathie Lesjak wasn't interim CEO for long. Mark Hurd resigned August
6, 2010. HP's Board chose Leo Apotheker as HP's new CEO on September 30.
Leo had been CEO of SAP, a fierce competitor to Oracle. Mark Hurd was
hired by Oracle's CEO. The feud between HP and Oracle heated up and
caused further distraction for employees and turmoil among corporate
customers. It was a bad way to get the Leo era launched. But other
blunders would soon cut Leo's time at HP short.
The New York Times has an interesting account
of how HP's troubled and dysfunctional Board stumbled onto the hiring
of Leo Apotheker. It's hard to know whether to blame Leo or the Board
for the way HP crashed on many fronts during the Leo months. Both are to
blame.
The die was cast for Leo's quick exit when, on August 18, 2011, HP announced that it would strategically exit the smartphone
and tablet computer business, focusing on higher-margin "strategic
priorities of cloud, solutions and software with an emphasis on
enterprise, commercial and government markets." HP also made it public that the Board contemplated spinning off the personal computer group into a separate company.
HP's consideration of a fundamental restructuring to quit the 'PC'
business, while continuing to sell servers and other equipment to
business customers, would have been similar to what IBM did in 2005.
In August 2011, HP also announced the purchase of Autonomy Corporation for $10 Billion.
On September 22, 2011, the HP Board announced that Leo had stepped down and that Meg Whitman was the new CEO.
Next: HP History: 2011-2012 - The Meg Whitman Years Begin
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