Meg Whitman finally decides to step down as the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and that may have seemed like a sudden blow to almost everyone except for the few close associates who she might have discussed this with. But the main point is that nobody really knew this was coming. Seems like that is not what she was going to believe. She seems to state that nobody should be surprised as they should know this was coming. An email was sent to all the HPE employees which was sent by her and that said that Antonio Neri, HPE’s president who will replace her as CEO on February 1, has worked with her closely and publicly lately. So he will be the one in charge.
“For those of you who have watched Antonio and I work together during this past year, I suspect today’s announcement comes as no surprise,” Whitman said in the email. “Many years ago, I said the next CEO of Hewlett Packard should come from inside our company. And when I said that, Antonio was exactly the kind of insider I had in mind.”
There is no clue as to why Whitman plans on leaving her post or where she will be going after this but she assured that she will be on the HPE’s board. But this is not something that disturbs us or her employees. Her resignation comes 2 months after she promised that she wouldn’t go anywhere. Those declarations followed her public admission that she had had discussions about becoming the next CEO of Uber and amid concerns that those discussions could be seen as a lack of commitment to HPE and jeopardize her future there. During HPE’s quarterly earnings conference call on Tuesday, Wall Street analysts asked Whitman why she was leaving now after she had so recently said she was not going anywhere. She declined to give much of an explanation. All we know is that her last day at work will be on February 1st 2018.
“There hasn’t been a change in sentiment,” she said, adding “I think it is absolutely the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins.” As for what she will do next, she told analysts she plans to be “a very active board member.” Beyond that, she plans to take a break.
“After a 35-year nonstop career I am actually kind of ready to take a little downtime, but there’s no chance I’m going to a competitor to HPE. No chance,” she said. She added: “I love this company, and I wouldn’t ever go to a competitor.” Our bet is she spends some time on various boards and that if she takes another CEO gig, it will be at a growing, mid-size startup, not another troubled giant.
So this was a bit of a shocking news to all of us and other HPEs out there but let’s just hope for the best. Stay in touch with us for more freshly brought news and let us know what you think of her decision of stepping out of HPE.
