HP Politics: Alleged Inside Info about the Autonomy Deal
May 14, 2012
Ah, HP management in action. Business Insider reveals, “HP Finance Chief Tried to Stop $11.7 Billion Acquisition, but Lost.” Believing the proposed purchase of Autonomy to be too expensive, HP CFO Cathie Lesjak aired her objections privately to then-CEO Léo Apotheker. The chief was not swayed. Lesjak felt so strongly that she crossed him in a board meeting, stating her objections.
As we know, the deal went through anyway, but what does the clash say about the culture of the beleaguered business? Columnist Matt Rosoff notes:
“The conflict was just one of many examples of how Apotheker lost control over the complicated political landscape at HP, and he was ousted less than two months later.
“The thing is, the conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley says that Lesjak was probably right. One CEO of an enterprise company that does not compete with HP told us that he thought the valuation was completely insane, and grounds for firing Apotheker even without all his other slip-ups. Some HP partners have also criticized the deal, and Oracle said they passed on the deal at $6 billion because it was too expensive.”
It looks like Lesjak, who, incidentally, sat in the CEO chair for a while in 2010, may know what she’s talking about. We hope Meg Whitman heeds her words better than Apotheker did.
Cynthia Murrell, May 14, 2012
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