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Friday, October 1, 2010

HP Hires Ex-SAP to CEO

I have to say I continue to be a bit surprised at the number of corporations that simply can not find or refuse to chose a candidate from within. I would not be surprised if one or more additional senior leaders at HP will look elsewhere as they have been passed over with this move.

HP named former SAP AG executive Leo Apotheker as the head guy now running the ship. It appears as HP is looking to strengthen its software sector with the latest move. HP has been a smaller player in this area over the past years. The rivalry with Oracle is expected to continue to grow as HP tries to be more meaningful in the software sector.

Leo Apotheker had been with the software maker SAP for more than 20 years. He had been known for raising the rate that SAP charged for product support during a bad economy. SAP later reduced those moves after customers threatened to walk away amid the higher fees.

Leo Apotheker plans to move to Palto Alto, CA for the new job. He is fluent in 5 languages and has never lived in the US full time prior to this.

HP moved quickly and now can hopefully put the CEO issue behind them. Leo Apotheker has some big shoes to fill and a large responsibility to keep driving HP as worlds largest IT company by revenue.

JZ

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