HP CEO Is Forced to Leave

In July 1999, Carly Fiorina, previous president of Lucent Technologies, was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Fiorina became the only female CEO of any company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

As CEO, Fiorina headed the merging of HP and Compaq in 2002. While many urged that this merger would reap serious consequences, Fiorina made promises of greater profits to shareholders. These promises remained largely unfulfilled as the merger proved financially unsuccessful.

Over time, Fiorina began losing support from the board of directors and was asked to step down. She willingly complied and her term was officially terminated on February 8, 2005. While the company publicly expressed appreciation for her leadership and work in improving HP’s global status during her tenure, they recognized differences in strategy as the reason for Fiorina’s termination.

Carly Fiorina, consistently at the top of Fortune’s most powerful women executives in the U.S. list, was a woman of great success.

Fiorina won several awards during her career including a 2004 Leadership award from the Private Sector Council and a seat on the U.S. Space Commission to share her expertise on the space science agenda.

Her termination marks the exit of one of the very few females in such prominent leadership roles. Furthermore, HP stocks rose approximately 7%, following Fiorina’s termination.

For now Hewlett-Packard searches for a new CEO as Robert Wayman, HP’s current CFO, acts as interim CEO. In the meantime, HP investors remain hopeful of a new CEO in favor of splitting up the company. No official announcements regarding the new CEO have been made.