HPE CEO Meg Whitman To Step Down In 2018

HPE CEO Meg Whitman will step down from her role early next year and will be replaced but current HPE President Antonio Neri.

Whitman became HP CEO in 2011 following the short but chaotic reign of Leo Apotheker. His tenure saw tens of billions wiped from the company’s share price thanks to a series of strategic decisions, such as the infamous $10.3 billion takeover of Autonomy.

Since then, Whitman has improved the firm’s financial position considerably and oversaw the division of HP (PC and printing) and HPE (server, storage, cloud and networks) into two separate companies.

HPE Meg Whitman

The latter has been strengthened by the acquisitions of Aruba, SimpiVity and Nimble Storage, while Whitman also saw the remaining Autonomy assets spun off into a new software venture with UK-based Micro Focus.

Whitman’s departure comes months after she was touted as the next Uber CEO. However given the company’s recent hacking revelations, she may be thankful she didn’t take that particular job.

“I’m incredibly proud of all we’ve accomplished since I joined HP in 2011. Today, Hewlett Packard moves forward as four industry-leading companies that are each well positioned to win in their respective markets,” she said.

“Now is the right time for Antonio and a new generation of leaders to take the reins of HPE. I have tremendous confidence that they will continue to build a great company that will thrive well into the future.”

Her replacement, Antonio Neri, is an HP veteran having joined the company in 1995 as a customer services engineer. He has held positions in the printing, personal services and technology services divisions before heading up the enterprise group in 2015. He became HPE President in June 2017.

“The world of technology is changing fast, and we’ve architected HPE to take advantage of where we see the markets heading,” he said. “HPE is in a tremendous position to win, and we remain focused on executing our strategy, driving our innovation agenda, and delivering the next wave of shareholder value.”

HPE has just posted $7.8 billion in quarterly revenues, a 4.6 percent year-on-year rise, but full year revenues are down 4.7 percent to $28.9 billion.

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