Tag: Whitman

HPE’s Meg predicted to leave by Yule

Posted on August 31, 2017 by - News

meg-whitmanThe news that HPE boss Meg Whitman was in the running for the Uber CEO job has led to some industry types to claim that she will be out of her HPE job by Yuletide.

Whitman, who has been HPE CEO since 2011, had been linked with the top job at Uber, but in July she publicly denied she would be moving to the ride-sharing firm.  She did not get the job that went to Dara Khosrowshahi – formally CEO at online travel firm Expedia.

However, Whitman gave media interviews this week and said Uber’s board approached her again over the weekend.

Uber had asked what it would take for her to change her mind

“I was not a contender for this job until the weekend — and I’m not even sure I was then”,  an apparently confused Whitman said.

However analysts are surprised by all this particularly as HPE is not doing that well and is going through one of its many restructurings. It cannot be seen as a good thing to learn that your CEO is planning to clean out her office and exit the building.

Most of the hacks covering the story think that Whitman will have gone by the end of the year.

HP Enterprise to name Microsoft’s Azure cloud partner

Posted on November 26, 2015 by - News

Cloud computing - photo Mike MageeThe former maker of expensive printer ink, HP Enterprise, has selected Microsoft’s Azure as its preferred public cloud partner.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman said HPE will officially unveil the partnership with Microsoft at the HPE Discover Conference in London next week.

She said that Vole shared HP’s view of a hybrid IT approach for enterprises, and sees an opportunity to simplify hybrid infrastructure.

“Microsoft Azure will become a preferred public cloud partner. HPE will serve as a preferred provider of Microsoft’s infrastructure and services for its hybrid cloud offerings,” she said.

HP said it will shut down its HP Helion Public Cloud offering effective January 21, 2016 and generally “doubling down” on its managed and virtual private cloud offerings in the wake of the public cloud exit. Whitman claimed this move played to HP’s strengths in private and managed cloud.

“We will continue to extend our cloud infrastructure leadership and integrate the public cloud element for our customers through a strategic, partner-based model,” she said.

Whitman did not say what this deal might have on HPE’s relationship with Amazon Web Services.

Word on the street is that HPE will provide support for AWS’ popular public cloud simply because it has to.

HP and shareholders deal in doubt

Posted on August 26, 2014 by - News

Meg Whitman, photo by Mike MageeA US judge is not happy about a proposed agreement struck between HP and plaintiff shareholders to settle a lawsuit over the computing giant’s acquisition of Autonomy.

US District Judge Charles Breyer rejected several million dollars in fees that shareholder attorneys would have recouped under the settlement.

But he added that he would have to make further inquiries into whether dismissing claims against HP officers, including current Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, was fair for shareholders.

Under the terms of the settlement, shareholders agreed to drop all claims against HP’s current and former executives, including Whitman, board members and advisers to the company. Instead the two sides would team up to bash former Autonomy executives, including Chief Executive Michael Lynch.

Laughing all the way to the bank were the shareholder attorneys who would have collected $18 million in fees.

The court heard how HP is also gunning for British unit of Deloitte & Touche over its role in auditing Autonomy.

HP’s allegations of accounting improprieties, misrepresentation and disclosure failures at Autonomy have prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as the UK’s Serious Fraud Office. However so far there have been no actual charges levelled against Lynch and co.

Former Autonomy Chief Financial Officer Sushovan Hussain objected to the settlement too saying that it was a “whitewash” and asked that he be allowed to review internal HP documents that absolved Whitman and others of wrongdoing.

HP has vigorously contested Hussain’s ability to review documents that gets Whitman off the hook.

Breyer said he would need to weigh the evidence against HP officers as part of his analysis on whether the deal absolving them of liability is fair for shareholders.

Bryer said that something went terribly wrong with the Autonomy acquisition.

 

HP might improve fast

Posted on June 13, 2013 by - News

Meg Whitman, photo by Mike MageeThe maker of expensive printer ink, HP, might pull its nadgers out of the fire a little quicker than many had thought.

Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman has been sounding curiously optimistic of late.
She told cable network CNBC that revenue growth was “still possible” for the computer maker in its next fiscal year.

The only thing that did not get many observer’s hopes up is that she did see the performance of the overall PC market was a wild card.

Some analysts think that the PC market has gone as low as it will ever get and it can only start picking up now.

Others think that everything is doomed and we will all be trying to write long reports on our smartphones by next Tuesday.

Nevertheless, investors seem to be a little more hopeful in HP’s future and its shares rose four percent on the news. You can pick up a second hand share, with a limited mileage, for $25.22 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading after Whitman’s interview.

Wall Street analysts are generally still pessimistic. They have estimated revenue of $108.9 billion for HP’s 2014 fiscal year. That would be down from their expectation of $111.4 billion for fiscal 2013, which ends in October.