Tech CEOs Who were Fired in 2011
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 30 December 2011, 20:32 IST
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Leo Apotheker, HP
Leo Apotheker, HP Serving a tenure of less than 11months in the company as CEO, Leo Apotheker got fired after being replaced by Meg Whitman as the new CEO. With limited experience in the American market, Apothekar joined HP group in September, 2011. Apotheker, being the business software vendor did not fare well in outselling hardware electronics. Decisions and announcements made by Apothekar including its struggling pc business, PSG (Personal Systems Group ) to turn over into a separate company further alienated most of the PC partners, investors and close associates leading to a major decline in stock prices for HP. Another major factor for the company's downfall was Apotheker's decision to close down web OS hardware which paved the way for bringing down the sales on TouchPad and Smartphones after being beaten up by the expected level of profit margin. The decisions made by Apothekar totally dismantled the business line as the company has already paid $1.2 billion to purchase just year back as part of agreement. Consequently the company had to suffer the loss. During the tenure of Apotheker, HP failed to meet its financial targets which shrank the economy at a considerable rate after acquisition of two infrastructure vendors, Autonomy Corp., and Vertica targeted to boost HP software sales which called for further downturn. Charles King, President and Principal Analyst of Pund-IT, the IT industry analysis publications said, "I think that Apotheker came into something of a thankless job." On September 22, 2011, Apotheker was replaced by the HP board of directors from the position of CEO by Meg Whitman. He announced his official discharge through a letter addressed to all HP employees mentioning Meg Whitman, to acquire his current position.

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