Whitman takes the helm at HP to muted analyst applause

former eBay head Meg Whitman was yesterday named as president and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP), replacing the much-criticised Leo Apotheker in an attempt to restore investor confidence.

The appointment of internet retail expert Whitman had been widely flagged, but many analysts said she was not an obvious choice to revive the flagging technology behemoth, given her lack of hardware experience.

Although Whitman transformed eBay from a few dozen employees in 1998 into a global internet retail powerhouse, the final years of her reign were marked by weaker growth, intensifying Wall Street criticism and a string of questionable acquisitions .

Apotheker’s ejection had been seen as inevitable after a series of earnings downgrades and he became the third successive HP chief executive to be axed.

Auriga analyst Kevin Hunt said: “Some might be saying maybe Meg Whitman isn’t the right person, either. She’s not a hardware person.” But he added HP “just needs someone to set the direction”.

Whitman said HP remained committed to completing a review of its PC division before the year ends. “We’ll make a decision as fast as we possibly can. We understand uncertainty doesn’t help the business, doesn’t help customers, doesn’t help shareholders.”

She also said the company would press ahead with its $12 billion (£7bn) acquisition of UK software maker Autonomy as planned.

The fact that Whitman was appointed without a full recruitment process came in for heavy criticism yesterday with Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi describing it as “unsatisfactory and unnecessarily hasty”.

HP chairman Ray Lane dismissed the concerns and said that the board chose Whitman after “serious consideration” and that her strong communication and operational skills made her the best candidate.