In and out

Less than 11 months after leaving behind a top job in Europe to take over the helm of US technology giant Hewlett-Packard, Leo Apotheker is packing his bags again.

On Thursday, HP replaced CEO Apotheker with Meg Whitman, the billionaire former head of eBay who made an unsuccessful run last year for California governor. She will be the second female to head HP after Carly Fiorina.

The ousting of Apotheker should please HP shareholders who had become increasingly dismayed with the future strategy envisioned by the German executive - and by disappointing earnings and missteps under his leadership.

Zigzag course

Pressure on Apotheker had been growing since August 18, when he announced the $10.3 billion (76 billion euros) acquisition of UK software company Autonomy.

In nearly the same breath, he revealed his idea of possibly selling the huge PC business to focus more on software and services - in the hope, critics say, of turning HP into an IBM.

He also killed HP's increasingly popular TouchPad tablet computer and abandoned its webOS operating system just five months after vowing to install the software on a full range of the company's mobile devices.

Moreover, in the short time Apotheker was in the hot seat at HP, he cut sales forecasts three times. And the company's stock, reflecting the zigzag course of its CEO, had declined more than 50 percent.

"You don't deliver a quarter, you don't deliver another quarter, then you make some important announcements that are communicated poorly - it was all incremental," HP chairman Ray Lane said in a conference call.

Lane added that the board objectively evaluated whether Apotheker "was the right guy to operate the business, and we came to the conclusion that he was not."

But the board thought differently in November 2011, when it hired Apotheker who had worked for more than 20 years at the German-based business software maker SAP. He successfully built up the company's national and international sales before becoming co-chairman in 2008 and sole CEO in 2009.

Laughing on the way to the bank

However, similar to his HP experience, Apotheker was pressured to leave that job within months - seven to be exact.

Under his leadership, SAP suffered delays in introducing new business software targeted at small and medium-sized businesses, an area in which the company has been struggling to grow for years. It also introduced maintenance fees in the middle of an economic crisis - only to back down after numerous big companies complained. And its shares lost more than half their value.

While shareholders at SAP and HP lick their wounds, 58-year-old Apotheker can look forward to kicking back. Already a millionaire before joining HP, he know has even more money in the bank.

The worldly businessman, who speaks five languages, stands to receive a cash severance of at least $7.2 million. Including his $1.1 million salary for the first year, a $4 million cash signing bonus and a $4.6 million relocation payment, Apotheker is expected to earn about $34.7 million in cash and stock for less than a year's work.

Author: John Blau
Editor: Matt Hermann