IT surprise: former head of eBay, CEO of HP

 Hewlett-Packard has appointed Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, as chairman and chief executive, replacing Leo Apotheker (he lasted less then one year) to try to regain investor confidence in my opinion.

The decision was made without carrying out a procedure to find a CEO, the company drawing so more criticism from shareholders.

Whitman transformed eBay from a company with dozens of employees in 1998 to one of the largest online retailers worldwide.

However, in recent years eBay company's growth has stopped, and we could also notice increasingly harsh criticism from management and investors unhappy with a series of uninspired acquisitions, including Internet telephony service Skype.

Leo Apotheker, brought from Germany last year, has been criticized by investors and is the third consecutive fired HP CEO.

Choosing Whitman as a replacement was surprising because of the haste with which it was made, and the fact that several potential internal candidates were overlooked.

"Some might also say that maybe Meg Whitman is not the right person. No knowledge of hardware. But HP needs someone to steer the company the right direction," comments one U.S. analyst.

Analysts speculate that the removal of Apotheker could pave the way for the overthrow of decisions taken in the 11 months in the office, but assured investors that HP does not want to change the strategy again.

Whitman said that HP will complete evaluation of the PC division by year's end and will end in normal acquisition of software maker Autonomy Corp. UK for 12 billion dollars.

HP shares closed Thursday at New York down 4.8%, after it climbed 6.6% on Wednesday.

"We believe that any decision not to run a complete search of internal and external candidates to fill the permanent CEO position would be poor and hasty,"  analyst Sanford Bernstein Toni Sacconaghi, a critic of HP management.

HP chairman, Ray Lane, rejects such comments and says that Whitman was chosen after a thorough evaluation, being the best candidate for the job.