HP Chairman Quits After Surviving Near-Ouster

by Christopher Freeburn | April 5, 2013 12:59 pm

Hewlett-Packard corporate building[1]On Thursday, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ[2]) announced that Ray Lane is stepping aside as chairman of the company’s board of directors[3].

The move comes after a shareholder campaign to unseat him and two other board members failed narrowly last month. Lane, who has served as HP chairman since 2010, will remain on the board, the Associated Press noted.

HP has appointed activist shareholder Ralph Whitworth to serve as temporary chairman until a successor to Lane can be located. Whitworth owns 34.5 million shares of the troubled computer equipment maker.

Shareholders were riled by $17 billion in losses resulting from a series of disastrous acquisitions, including the 2011 purchase of British software maker Autonomy for $10 billion. HP has since revealed accounting irregularities in Autonomy’s books and written off $8 billion in Autonomy’s value[4].

Investors appeared uneasy at the board shake up. HP shares sank almost 2% in Friday midday trading.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Hewlett_Packard_building_Tunisia630.jpg
  2. HPQ: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=HPQ
  3. stepping aside as chairman of the company’s board of directors: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/04/05/hp-chairman-ray-lane-steps-down/
  4. revealed accounting irregularities in Autonomy’s books and written off $8 billion in Autonomy’s value: https://investorplace.com/2012/12/hewlett-packard-ends-the-year-with-justice-department-probe/

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