MESSAGE
| DATE | 2005-03-30 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] HP and HRD - not what you think :)
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SAN FRANCISCO Mar 30, 2005 — A Hewlett-Packard Co. director said
Wednesday that the board would look to newly named chief executive Mark
Hurd to recommend sweeping changes in strategy at the ailing computer
and printer maker.
HP director Patricia C. Dunn, who headed the executive search committee
that announced Hurd's appointment Tuesday, said the board would ask Hurd
to make major decisions about the company including whether to break HP
into two or more pieces and how to improve financial performance in all
five divisions.
That's a stark contrast to the widely perceived notion that HP's board
selected Hurd because he agreed to follow the business strategy of his
predecessor, Carly Fiorina. The Wall Street Journal and The New York
Times reported Wednesday that Hurd would steer HP in the same direction
it has been going for years in particular that he would keep the
diversified technology concern intact.
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Actively soliciting strategy decisions from the CEO also is a departure
from comments of HP directors as recently as last month. On Feb. 9,
directors ousted Fiorina, a marketing executive who spearheaded the
company's $19 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Co., saying they
didn't have a problem with the business strategy only that she didn't
execute it quickly enough.
"Strategy is a living, breathing thing, and it's the responsibility of
the CEO to recommend strategy, and I'm sure Mark will do that," Dunn
said Wednesday during a 20-minute conference call with financial
analysts.
Hewlett-Packard shares slipped 3 cents to $21.75 in morning trading on
the New York Stock Exchange after rising 10 percent in the previous
session. Its shares have traded in a range of $16.08 and $23.75 over the
past 52 weeks.
Hurd was a unanimous pick of HP's board of directors and will assume the
CEO responsibilities next week. During the conference call, he refused
to provide details about how he would lead HP, insisting that he will
spend several months studying the company's operations before making
changes.
"I don't know any other way to do it other than to get under every
single piece of the business … and meet every single person I can
possibly meet," said Hurd, 48, who has spent the last 25 years at
Dayton, Ohio-based NCR.
Hurd dismissed speculation that he would follow a business strategy
similar to that of NCR, a computer services company that operates ATMs
and data warehouses that store countless bits of information from
corporate customers.
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Before he took the helm of NCR, Hurd was NCR president and chief
operating officer and led NCR's lucrative Teradata warehouse division.
Starting in the late '90s, shareholders questioned whether NCR should
spin off the unit. Hurd refused. But that decision doesn't mean he'll
keep HP in tact, Hurd said.
"It would be wrong for me to try to take the formula I used at NCR and
try to use it at HP," he said.
HP's long-stagnant stock jumped more than 10 percent Tuesday when Hurd
confirmed that he'd take the job.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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