InformationWeek Report: Has HP Found Its Next CEO?
According to a report in the August 24 InformationWeek, Bob Evans reports that Interim HP CEO Cathie Lesjak scored some big points in last week's earnings call but also revealed equally big challenges at the world's biggest IT company.
Evans writes that Hewlett-Packard CFO Cathie Lesjak had less than two weeks in her new stint as interim CEO to prepare for the company's eagerly anticipated earnings call last week. As the world's largest IT company, HP always draws a great deal of attention to its earnings announcements but the attention level was cranked up even higher due to the recent departure of the formerly permanent CEO.
According to Evans, Lesjak scored some big points in key areas during her first earnings call as interim CEO, and with the HP board feeling a bit stung after its last two CEOs—both outsiders—left the company under clouds of bad publicity for HP, some folks believe the board is leaning toward hiring an insider this time around.
At the same time, Evans writes, Lesjak's prepared remarks as well as her responses during Q&A with financial analysts also revealed some massive challenges confronting HP, particularly its striking lack of sufficient progress in integrating EDS two years after the acquisition—and HP's board will need to think long and hard about the ability of its new permanent CEO--whether Lesjak or someone else—to drive that integration to a rapid and profitable completion.
Read the complete InformationWeek article here.