weekly gossips

Meg Whitman Back in Spotlight at H-P

As Hewlett-Packard Co. board members met Wednesday to debate the fate of Chief govt Leo Apotheker, many individuals briefed on true said H-P board member Meg Whitman could be a candidate to be named interim CEO of the large technology company, though she might not have an interest within the position.

In considering Ms. Whitman, H-P is wanting to a Silicon Valley veteran who turned eBay Inc. from a unusual start-up into the world's leading on-line auction company and who remains an influential figure within the technology scene as an H-P director and an adviser to a number one venture-capital firm.

But the previous eBay chief govt additionally has very little background within the hardware business, never ran an organization of H-P's size, created some missteps at eBay and most recently drew attention for a failed bid to become governor of California.

In an interview Monday, Ms. Whitman, 55, described H-P as "a Silicon Valley icon that's the method of reshaping itself." She acknowledged that the Palo Alto, Calif., company "has definitely had challenges" which "time can tell" how it fares, however she added, "I'm optimistic concerning H-P's future."

Asked concerning Mr. Apotheker's recent call to doubtless spin off the company's personal-computer business, Ms. Whitman said, "There are tremendous strategic changes that are happening within the computer business, and H-P desires to take advantage of those changes and make certain this operating division has the autonomy and also the ability to retort to rapidly changing technology."

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Ms. Whitman referred letter of invitation for added comment to H-P. H-P declined to comment.

The re-emergence of Ms. Whitman—who has kept a comparatively low profile since losing her gubernatorial bid to Democrat Jerry Brown last year—is probably to renew investors' concentrate on her log at eBay.

Ms. Whitman joined eBay in 1998 once stints at Hasbro Inc., Florists Transworld Delivery and Stride ceremony Corp. By the time she left the web company in March 2008, eBay's annual revenue was $7.7 billion, up from $86 million when she joined.

But considerations later mounted as eBay's once-torrid growth slowed amid competition from different e-commerce sites like Amazon.com Inc. Ms. Whitman was additionally roundly criticized for eBay's 2005 purchase of Internet-calling firm Skype for $2.5 billion, that it later took a $1.4 billion write-down. EBay has been viewed as a turnaround scenario for the previous couple of years below current CEO John Donahoe.

A year once leaving eBay, Ms. Whitman announced she would run as a Republican for governor of California, that had struggled with deep deficits throughout Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger's tenure. She won the Republican nomination, however despite spending a record quantity on her campaign—$178.5 million, most of it out of her own pockets—she ultimately lost to Democrat Jerry Brown.

In March, Ms. Whitman became a part-time adviser at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a distinguished Silicon Valley venture-capital firm.

In the Monday interview, Ms. Whitman additionally mused concerning the challenge for giant firms of maintaining with increasingly speedy change—especially within the technology business. "The larger you get, the more durable it's to be nimble," she said. "How does one grow massive and keep small? that also is that the basic question."