HP CEO resigns following sex scandal

[zooterkin]

At least, that's what it sounds like. (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8a11447e-a197-11df-9656-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss) Whether it would have come out if the woman involved hadn't made alleagations of sexual harassment, who knows?

[plumjam]

Hmmm... HP Sauce!

[Puppycow]

In a devastating critique of one of the most prominent US business leaders, Mike Holston, HP’s general counsel said of the departure: “It had to do with integrity, had to do with credibility, had to do with honesty.”

One person familiar with the situation said that HP had identified questionable expense claims of up to $20,000 over the past two years.
. . .
HP later disclosed that Mr Hurd will receive his contractual severance payments from the company, which were estimated by one person close to the case at nearly $40m.

Lovely. No wonder CEOs are so despised. And obviously the board of directors is complicit in this fleecing, because they too have very lavish compensation packages, and they wouldn't want to "rock the boat."

:mad:

[quixotecoyote]

I have a standing offer that I'll run your company into the ground for half the price of the current guy you have doing it.

[lionking]

Very interesting parallel with the CEO of one of Australia's largest retailers, David Jones.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/lifestyle/people/former-djs-boss-ready-to-defend-himself-20100804-11fod.html

Mark McInnes was sacked as CEO for touching up a junior staff member. She responded with a $37 million lawsuit, which, while it may be taken seriously in the US, doesn't have a hope in hell here.

[CmacMacmA]

Okay... :rolleyes: I've seen some strange threads on this forum, but why did you feel the need to share this little piece of information here? I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just curious as it seems out of place from the usual topics. :o

[lionking]

Okay... :rolleyes: I've seen some strange threads on this forum, but why did you feel the need to share this little piece of information here? I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm just curious as it seems out of place from the usual topics. :o
Is not the departure of the CEO of the largest computer manufacturer related to Business?

[CmacMacmA]

Oops, forget that last comment. :rolleyes: I just saw the thread on the forum home page and decided to take a look. :) I'll make sure I don't do that again.

[Kopji]

Except they had no sex?

Not sure whether HP has a CEO problem or that CEO's have an HP problem. Sure it's good to be king but they obviously need some oversight.

[zooterkin]

Except they had no sex?

Why do you say that? It seems clear there was a personal relationship that he attempted to cover up by claiming expenses ($20000, IIRC), which is what he lost his job over. I guess it's possible there was no sex, but that seems unlikely. There wasn't any sexual harassment.

[Zep]

It's gonna be "fun" when I get to work on Monday! :D

[Soapy Sam]

First Carly, then this.
Remember when HP was run by engineers?

[zooterkin]

First Carly, then this.
Remember when HP was run by engineers?
Some of us do, though there's not many of us left.

[zooterkin]

Why do you say that? It seems clear there was a personal relationship that he attempted to cover up by claiming expenses ($20000, IIRC), which is what he lost his job over. I guess it's possible there was no sex, but that seems unlikely. There wasn't any sexual harassment.

More details emerge, but only serve to make things less clear. Apologies to Kopji, maybe he had seen something I hadn't, but this story (http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-hurds-people-are-denying-pretty-much-everything-hps-board-said-he-did-so-the-board-has-some-more-explaining-to-do-2010-8) says that there was no sex (which is one of things that makes it more baffling).
HP said Hurd lied about the identity of his dinner companions in his expense reports to conceal secret dinners with his apparent crush (who both sides say he didn't have sex with but who still sued him for sexual harassment anyway). Hurd's people counter that Hurd's secretary filed his expense reports and may not have known exactly who he was having dinner with (the reports are still his responsibility, obviously, but people do make mistakes). Hurd's people also counter that Hurd's expense reports sometimes DID list the woman as a dinner guest and that Hurd himself paid for other dinners with her where no business was discussed.

In a second allegation, HP also says Hurd had HP pay to fly the woman near to where he was staying even when she wasn't working for HP. That would be embezzlement if true, but Hurd's people deny that. They say in one of these instances, an event the woman was involved in was canceled at the last minute, after she had already made the trip.

So, what happened, exactly?





ETA: If he didn't do anything wrong, why did he have to leave? If he did violate the SBC (standards of business conduct), why is he still getting his severance package? Is it that the allegations alone would damage him too much to allow him to continue in the post?

[Kopji]

More details emerge, but only serve to make things less clear. Apologies to Kopji, maybe he had seen something I hadn't, but this story (http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-hurds-people-are-denying-pretty-much-everything-hps-board-said-he-did-so-the-board-has-some-more-explaining-to-do-2010-8) says that there was no sex (which is one of things that makes it more baffling).

ETA: If he didn't do anything wrong, why did he have to leave? If he did violate the SBC (standards of business conduct), why is he still getting his severance package? Is it that the allegations alone would damage him too much to allow him to continue in the post?

No problem. I did a little research on this one because I still don't understand what law he broke. She almost seems to have attended the Monica Lewinsky School of Etiquette.

Sounds terrible, but the $20k is not that much. Probably needs to be compared to how much he was responsible for. They might spend much more than that on a single 'event'.

They are voicing my question though:

"It says they're off track in some fundamental way," said Stephen Diamond, associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and an expert on business law.

"The first thing is, they have to find the right kind of CEO," he added. "And I think what that CEO needs to do is come in and say, 'How many board members were here during the last two scandals? If you were, please resign now."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38611219/ns/business-us_business/

Yeah. Bingo.

[zooterkin]

Huffington Post identifies the lady in question (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/08/jodie-fisher-photos-pictu_n_675056.html), and has photos.

[balrog666]

HP CEO resigns following sex scandal.

That's only what they want you to believe ... :eek:

[Puppycow]

Some second-guessing of the board's decision. Did they overreact?

HP Board Said to Turn Against Hurd After Surprise Settlement (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-15/hp-board-said-to-turn-against-ex-chief-hurd-following-surprise-settlement.html)

Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Mark Hurd surprised the board by settling a sexual-harassment claim before directors could learn more about the incident, a final breach of trust that contributed to his ouster as chief executive officer, two people familiar with the decision said.

Hurd, who stepped down on Aug. 6, was scheduled to join a mediation session the previous day to deal with the harassment claim, the people said. Instead, Hurd settled the complaint and the meeting never happened, they said. The board’s trust in Hurd also was undermined after a probe found he tried to conceal a relationship with his accuser, a former actress named Jodie Fisher who worked for HP as an event organizer, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information is private.

The handling of Hurd’s departure has drawn a shareholder lawsuit and a rebuke from Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison, who compared the move to the firing of Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs in the 1980s. The suit, filed Aug. 10 by a Massachusetts pension fund, says that mishandling the matter contributed to the plunge in HP’s stock last week, erasing $9 billion in value.

A person familiar with Hurd’s thinking said HP knew he was trying to settle with Fisher, and had encouraged him to do so. Also, the mediation session wouldn’t have presented new evidence or allegations, the person said. HP’s lawyers thanked Hurd for settling the complaint, according to the person.

Under Hurd, HP retook leadership in the personal-computer market from Dell Inc. and used acquisitions to expand into such areas as computer services, smartphones and networking gear.

‘Worst Personnel Decision’

HP also surpassed International Business Machines Corp. as the largest maker of technology products by revenue and its share price more than doubled since Hurd became CEO in April 2005.

“The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago,” Ellison said in a letter to the New York Times last week.

On the day Hurd left, HP said he had violated its standards of business conduct by concealing a relationship with a contract employee and falsifying expense reports. The company disclosed the sexual-harassment complaint, saying it didn’t find that Hurd broke its harassment policy. Cathie Lesjak is acting as interim CEO while HP seeks a permanent replacement for Hurd.

HP declined $5.85 to $40.45 last week in New York Stock Exchange trading, following Hurd’s resignation. The stock has tumbled 21 percent this year.

[Zep]

I wonder if the new CEO will realise that HP has to make and sell quality product in order to stay in the market, and not just try to do everything on the cheap to make a profit...