惠普CEO將換帥?eBay前掌門或取代李艾科
??? 據(jù)知情人士透露,惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard)董事會正在醞釀高層大換血,其中一項(xiàng)方案是由eBay前任老板梅格?惠特曼接替上任不足一年的李艾科,出任惠普公司CEO。惠特曼目前是惠普公司董事,以及凱鵬華盈投資公司(Kleiner Perkins)的戰(zhàn)略顧問。 ????目前的形勢并不明朗:惠普董事會將在今天下午召開會議。但惠普公司發(fā)言人拒絕對此事發(fā)表任何評論。消息傳出后,惠普公司股票上漲近8%,升至24.24美元。 ????目前正值惠普的關(guān)鍵時(shí)期。惠普公司一直在艱難地摸索未來的發(fā)展方向。8月中旬,公司宣布對業(yè)務(wù)進(jìn)行大幅戰(zhàn)略調(diào)整,包括以103億美元價(jià)格收購軟件公司Autonomy Corp.,撤銷TouchPad平板電腦業(yè)務(wù),并決定出售或剝離硬件部門。換句話說,此次調(diào)整計(jì)劃將剝離2002年并購的康柏電腦(Compaq Computer)業(yè)務(wù)。雖然該并購當(dāng)時(shí)備受爭議,卻幫助惠普一躍成為科技行業(yè)的巨頭。 ????李艾科從2010年11月份上任以來一直飽受詬病。惠普宣布最新調(diào)整計(jì)劃僅僅5個(gè)月之前,他還在吹捧公司的WebOS平板電腦操作系統(tǒng),信誓旦旦地宣稱將在每一臺惠普電腦上安裝WebOS系統(tǒng),并廣泛地?cái)U(kuò)展到手機(jī)和平板電腦。但8月份,他卻突然變臉,宣布終止惠普TouchPad平板電腦業(yè)務(wù),并在實(shí)質(zhì)上放棄了WebOS。去年,惠普以12億美元的價(jià)格收購奔邁公司(Palm),自此將WebOS業(yè)務(wù)攬入懷中。 ????或許李艾科過往的履歷已經(jīng)為他在惠普的所作所為埋下了伏筆。惠普董事會讓這位德國軟件業(yè)巨頭SAP的前任CEO接管公司,實(shí)際上是讓一位專注企業(yè)軟件的高管直接進(jìn)入低利潤的個(gè)人電腦行業(yè),而且還要冒巨大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn),在智能手機(jī)與平板電腦領(lǐng)域與蘋果公司(Apple)展開廝殺。由于個(gè)人電腦銷量下降,而平板電腦又毫無起色,李艾科不得不放棄這兩項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)。 ????而惠特曼又能為惠普帶來什么?現(xiàn)年55歲的惠特曼長期在硅谷打拼,是一位經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的高管,而且她在今年年初成為惠普公司董事,對公司也非常了解。惠特曼曾在貝恩公司(Bain & Co.)、迪士尼(Disney)、寶潔公司(Procter & Gamble)和孩之寶公司(Hasbro)任職,并在1998年至2008年期間,一直擔(dān)任eBay公司總裁兼CEO。最初,eBay只是一家僅有30名員工,收入僅為470萬美元的小型電子商務(wù)初創(chuàng)公司,后來之所以能夠成為擁有15,000名員工,收入約80億美元的行業(yè)巨頭,惠特曼居功至偉。【惠特曼曾入選2004年與2005年《財(cái)富》最具影響力商界女性(Fortune's Most Powerful Woman in Business)榜單。】她后來離開了eBay,加入了競選加利福尼亞州州長一職的激烈競爭,但最終未能如愿勝出。 ????惠普董事會面臨巨大的壓力,必須扭轉(zhuǎn)當(dāng)前的局勢。在今天的消息傳出之前,公司股價(jià)從今年伊始便持續(xù)下跌,跌幅超過40%。2010年,惠普公司因前任CEO馬克?赫德與公司一名承包商傳出桃色丑聞,選擇與其分道揚(yáng)鑣,此舉遭到外界的廣泛指責(zé)。【赫德目前是甲骨文公司(Oracle)的聯(lián)席總裁。】李艾科在SAP僅僅擔(dān)任了十個(gè)月CEO,現(xiàn)在看來,他的這次任期注定又將創(chuàng)下新的紀(jì)錄。當(dāng)時(shí),李艾科與德國工會發(fā)生沖突,而公司收入又出現(xiàn)下滑,因而從SAP辭職。看來,惠普今天召開董事會時(shí),首先得把公司之前的一連串 “昏招”牢記在心,以此作為前車之鑒。 ????譯者:劉進(jìn)龍/喬樹靜 |
????Hewlett-Packard's board is weighing a shakeup that would include replacing its current CEO Leo Apotheker after barely a year on the job, according to a person familiar with the matter. The troubled technology giant plans to offer the top spot to former eBay boss Meg Whitman. Whitman is a current HP director and a strategic advisor at Kleiner Perkins. ????The situation appears to be fluid; HP's (HPQ) board plans to meet this afternoon. When reached for comment, an HP spokesperson decline to say anything about the matter. HP's stock jumped on the news, up around 8% to 24.24. ????The move would come at a pivotal time for HP, which has struggled to find a path forward. In mid-August, the company announced a vast planned overhaul of its business, agreeing to buy software maker Autonomy Corp. for $10.3 billion, canceling its TouchPad tablet and deciding whether to sell or spin-off its hardware division. The plan, in other words, called for the unraveling of the much-debated 2002 merger with Compaq Computer that helped turn HP into a technology behemoth. ????Since taking over in November 2010, Apotheker has faced his share of reversals. A mere five months before announcing the latest plan, he had touted the company's WebOS tablet operating system and promised it would ship with every Hewlett-Packard computer as well as a robust line of phones and tablet computers. In August, he pulled an abrupt about-face, announcing the cancellation of HP's TouchPad tablet and the effective discontinuation of WebOS, which it got as part of a $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm last year. ????Such moves might have been expected given Apotheker's resume. In putting the former CEO of German software giant SAP (SAP) in charge, HP's board effectively asked an executive with enterprise software expertise to go toe-to-toe in the low-margin PC business, not to mention a high-risk play to outflank Apple (AAPL) in smartphones and tablets. Apotheker's moves to divest in both businesses came when PC sales slowed and the tablet failed to catch on. ????What would HP get in Whitman? A seasoned executive with a long history in Silicon Valley -- not to mention one familiar with the company. Whitman, 55, has been an HP director since early this year. After stints at Bain & Co., Disney (DIS), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Hasbro (HAS), Whitman was eBay's president and CEO from 1998 until 2008. She transformed the tiny e-commerce startup with just 30 employees and $4.7 million in revenue into a giant with some 15,000 employees and almost $8 billion in revenue. (Whitman was Fortune's Most Powerful Woman in Business in 2004 and 2005.) She eventually left, making a hard-fought but failed bid to become California's governor. ????Pressure is mounting on HP's board to get something right. Before today's news, its stock has been hammered, down over 40% from the beginning of the year. HP was widely criticized over the 2010 departure of former CEO Mark Hurd amid a scandal involving a personal relationship with a company contractor. (Hurd is a co-president at Oracle (ORCL).) Now, Apotheker's tenure looks slated to barely outlast his 10-month run as CEO of SAP, which ended amid clashes with German unions and declines in revenue. As the board meets, HP's long string missteps is surely foremost in mind. |