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4:36 pm And we're done! It sounds like Ray Lane and Meg Whitman have some strong ideas about the future of HP -- and it's entirely possible that the company will hold onto the PC division.
4:35 pm Wrap up from Meg: "Business is about relationships. You've got to get to know me... we're going to invest in those relationships."
4:34 pm Lane jumped in to rant about PSG some more. "We thought PSG would be stronger for customers than inside. If it can't be stronger on the outside than it stays inside. The same for investors. It'll be the easiest decision we ever made -- investors and customers will tell us."
4:33 pm A: (Whitman) I have talked to the executive council, and we talked about bout keeping people. We've got to work as a team, the employees want to be led. They bleed HP blue, they are excited about this, they want very much for this company to succeed. We may not keep everyone, but we'll keep the vast majority of people who want to believe."
4:32 pm Q: Meg, have you spoken to your key reports? How will you keep them?
4:32 pm A: (Lane) "I'm not sure it's important to dwell on the timeline. It wasn't last week, it wasn't a month ago... it was more like, you don't deliver a quarter, you make some big announcements that get communicated poorly. How long do you go along with that?"
4:31 pm Q: Can you walk through the timeline of when you decided to have discussions with the board on exec change?
4:30 pm A: "The best thing we can do is get to a decision on PSG as fast as possible. It's not fine wine, it doesn't get better with age. We've got to get to a decision and communicate it."
· 4:30 pm Q: You're reconsidering the PC business -- how you plan to manage that?
· 4:29 pm A: (Whitman) "In the end the only thing that will rebuild confidence is if we deliver."
4:29 pm A: I am hard-pressed -- I can't think of a name I would select today I would pick over Meg.
· 4:29 pm Lane is not happy that everyone is questioning the board.
· 4:29 pm A: (Lane) I go back to my last answer. I don't think we should go back in history, but this board did not select this Leo, and I remember people wondering if Leo had picked the board. You remember all that?
· 4:28 pm Q: One of the board's key roles is selecting a leader -- I think this will set a record for hiring and firing a leader. Have you really vetted this process? How do investors gain confidence in the board?
4:27 pm Lane really going to the mat for the board here.
· 4:27 pm A: I'm proud of the individuals on this board and the way they work together.
· 4:26 pm A: They work really well together -- the openness, the tough questions. We're embarrassed about the communication of these decisions, but we carefully consider the decisions.
4:26 pm A: (Lane) I'm giving you an answer right from my heart. In January I added five new members. This is not the board that was around for pretexting, or the board that fired Mark Hurd. This is not the board the press wants to write about. It's not this board.
4:25 pm Q: It appears as though investor confidence in the board is low -- are you changing anything?
4:25 pm A: There was not a better choice on the outside. If we thought there was a better choice, we would have conducted that search.
4:24 pm A: We looked at some inside that aren't ready, we looked at an interim role. We considered other board members. I knew from the beginning of the process that the strongest candidate to do this -- I've seen Meg lead. I predict the HP employees are going to get on her side. It was almost like weeks ago I knew where the process woud come out. The question was would she change her life to do this?
4:23 pm A: (Lane) As we started thinking about this and collecting data, we of course, we had to think about what options we had. We knew we had outside options, but we had fairly recent data from last year's search. We had internal candidates, we have at least three or four people on the exec committees. There was a desire to reach inside, and that strong desire led us to say "do we have an internal candidate first... because we can't find anybody better outside."
4:22 pm Q: Some people think it's hasty and premature to name a permanent CEO rather than conduct a comprehensive search?
4:21 pm A: (Lane) That doesn't mean we're transforming HP... we've stricken that word from our language.
4:20 pm A: From what I know now, the strategy is right and the initiative we undertook on August 18th are right.
· 4:19 pm A: (Whitman) The answer is yes. I am supportive of the actions announced on August 18th, but I am now deeply involved and will review the initiatives.
· 4:19 pm Q: When Mark Hurd left HP, the company was quick to say there wouldn't be a significant change to strategy, and some of that didn't come through. Are you going to review the financials and strategic decisions?
4:18 pm A: (Ray Lane) Yeah, one, this is a big company that requires the executive team to be on the same page. And we didn't see an executive team that was working together. The biggest was operating execution, the ability to get down deep into the businesses. Third was communications, we struggled in the August 18th announcements and how we've communicated to our customers, press, and partners. I look at those three, and look at Meg, and her strongest attributes are leadership, team play, and operations.
4:17 pm Q: Can you be more specific about the areas of execution that were lacking under Leo that you expect to improve?
· 4:16 pm Q&A time!
· 4:16 pm She's going through HP matters again. "And now it's time to get to work."
4:16 pm "We will work hard to attract and retain the most innovative workforce."
· 4:15 pm "As CEO I'm focused on ensuring that HP delivers on its commitments to its partners and customers."
· 4:15 pm It sounds like things are status quo for PCs and webOS.... which is to say things are still completely up in the air.
· 4:14 pm "We continue to investigate options to recognize the value of webOS software."
· 4:14 pm "With PSG, we expect the board to make a determination by the end of the quarter."
· 4:14 pm "The current plan includes the spinoff of PSG and the discontinuation of TouchPad and webOS products."
4:13 pm Back to Whitman. "By executing our strategy we can deliver higher value... we'll continue to invest in servers, storage, software, PCs, and service-level offerings."
4:13 pm "We have less certainty with revenue, specfically our hardware businesses."
4:12 pm CFO Cathy Lesjak now talking about financials. They're.... mixed.
4:11 pm "Going forward HP will have no higher priority than to meet the challenges of today's macroeconomic environment... at the same time we have to deliver great products."
4:11 pm "HP really matters. It matters to Silicon Valley, to California, to the US, and to the world."
· 4:11 pm Turning it over to Whitman. "I'm glad to be speaking to you all as CEO of HP."
· 4:10 pm "We're at a critical moment -- we need renewed leadership."
· 4:09 pm "Meg has a solid understanding of our company and our products."
· 4:09 pm "Meg is a technology visionary with deep experience and recognized management experience."
· 4:09 pm "That brings us to the announcement we're making today. We're fortunate to have someone of Meg's caliber to lead HP."
· 4:08 pm "At the same time the board began to observe weaknesses... it became obvious when I talked to you after we made our announcements."
· 4:08 pm This "resulted in a series of decisions to better capitalize on trends."
· 4:07 pm Explaining the Apotheker hire. "In order to grow, HP needed to make strategic investments... Leo was tasked with leading the future of HP."
· 4:07 pm The board believes the CEO change was "absolutely necessary."
· 4:07 pm Ray Lane on the line. "Thank you for joining us. This board of directors cares deeply about HP, and we are deeply committed to the future of this iconic company."
· 4:06 pm Okay we're on -- Steven Fieler from HP is on the line, as are Ray Lane, new CEO Meg Whitman, and CFO Cathy Lesjak.
Source: thisismynext
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