2005: Fiorina out, HP stock soars

[kpete]

CEO who engineered Compaq merger leaving after fight with board; will walk away with $21 million.
February 10, 2005: 9:15 AM EST
By Paul R. La Monica, CNN/Money senior writer



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Hewlett-Packard Co. Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in corporate America, is leaving the troubled computer maker after being forced out by the company's board.

Shares of HP (Research) jumped 6.9 percent in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday on the news. But at one point, the stock was up as much as 10.5 percent.

"The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."

Fiorina, the only female CEO at a company in the Dow Jones industrial average, had been with HP since 1999. But the company's controversial deal to buy Compaq in the spring of 2002 -- after a bruising proxy fight led by one of the Hewlett family heirs -- has not produced the shareholder returns or profits she had promised.

"While I regret the board and I have differences about how to execute HP's strategy, I respect their decision," Fiorina said in a statement released by the company.



FROM:
http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/09/technology/hp_fiorina/

[cascadiance]

1. Another reason they cheered when Steve Jobs was laughing at her and HP....