New CEO Whitman happy with HP’s current strategy despite investor unrest

Meg Whitman may have assumed the role of CEO with HP on Thursday after Leo Apotheker was ousted, but that does not mean the company’s plans to kill of its webOS operating system, possibly spin off its PC business and purchase Autonomy are going to change. “It does not signal a change in the strategy,” Whitman explained to Bloomberg on Thursday. “We are behind the actions that were taken on Aug. 18. We are firmly committed to Autonomy.” Still, Whitman’s appointment has pumped a bit of new faith into the market. “Although there could still be curve balls around these planned initiatives, we believe the company is now in better hands to deliver the consistency that investors deserve,” Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White said in a note to investors on Friday. Other analysts aren’t so sure Whitman is the driving force HP needs. “The board isn’t going to change the strategy and is going to continue down this path, which frankly was the fear,” Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore told Bloomberg.

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Tags: Apotheker, CEO, Deutsche Bank, HP, strategy, Ticonderoga