When Mark Hurd had not been in the job as CEO for Hewlett Packard for more than a few weeks he spoke out. He was worried about press leaks from the workforce and said he would root out where these leaks are coming from, and personally fire anyone responsible. And that’s what happened, with at least two members of staff losing their jobs.
One or two raised their eyebrows; after all there was a time when the company encouraged staff to have a good relationship with the press, but on the whole this was seen as Hurd making an impact, as it were Mark was making his mark.
But then there was trouble. It had, or so it seems, nothing to do with Hurd’s sackings. Rather this related to company chair Patricia Dunn who had rooted out leaks from the boardroom. She hired a firm of private detectives, and the guilty ‘leaker’ was found. But then it emerged that detectives appeared to use a practice known as “pre-texting”, which entails assuming the identity of the person being investigated. This is illegal in California and it’s thought some could face criminal charges.
But Hurd was safe, no one suggested he was involved, and the share price was largely unaffected.
But next week Mr Hurd is to appear before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on Oversight. There’s nothing untoward in that. In fact it was always known he would have to give evidence.
But then a newspaper report linked HP’s CEO and the way staff were fired with the scandal. Most are saying there is no connection. There is no evidence Hurd or his team used “pre-texting”. But with markets, a whiff of controversy can be enough, and yesterday shares in the world’s second largest PC company tumbled 5 percent.
Investment and Business News is a succinct, erudite and informative roundup of today’s top news stories on business and the economy, with analysis thrown in. It’s free, and to subscribe: visit this link
Comments
Trackbacks