HP’s New CEO Is Former SAP Boss Apotheker

Naturally, HP published its board members’ official takes on the selection of Apotheker.

“Leo is a strategic thinker with a passion for technology, wide-reaching global experience and proven operational discipline – exactly what we were looking for in a CEO,” said Robert Ryan, lead independent director of the board. “After more than two decades in the industry, he has a strong track record of driving technological innovation, building customer relationships and developing world-class teams.”

“Leo has been a leader in anticipating the transformation taking place in our industry, and we believe he is uniquely positioned to help accelerate HP’s strategy. He has demonstrated success in the US market and also has vast international experience – which will be a major asset as HP continues to expand globally, particularly in high-growth emerging markets. HP has the right assets and market positions, and now we have the best team to realise the company’s enormous potential,” Ryan said in a prepared statement.

Lane said he has “known and admired Leo for almost 20 years. He is ideally suited to build on HP’s strong foundation, leverage its many assets and keep the company at the forefront of innovation.”

Analysts have their say

Analysts gave their immediate reactions.

Ezra Gottheil, IT hardware analyst with Technology Business Research, told eWEEK that Apotheker’s major attribute is that: “he’s an ex-software CEO. HP’s kind of got its ducks in a row now with hardware, they’re driving market share in PCs and servers, they’ve put acquisitions in place for networking and storage, and in mobile devices with Palm. They’ve got a services business that they’ve successfully integrated.

“So what’s the final frontier? Software has been a kind of stepchild at HP for a very long time. How do you protect software margins, which they haven’t succeeded at doing, ever? You put a software CEO at the top of the organisation,” Gottheil added.

Stuart Williams, a software industry analyst with TBR, wrote in a flash report that the appointment of Apotheker “fills a gap in HP’s expertise. HP is now a three-way player: HP is confident that hardware and services are on positive trajectories and is once again filling out its portfolio by strengthening the third leg of the IT stool: hardware, software, and services.”

The experience Apotheker brings in running and selling an enterprise software company is directly beneficial to HP, Williams wrote.

“Given the strong margin contribution of enterprise software, TBR believes Mr Apotheker will reinvigorate the software portfolio under the HP Software and the Enterprise Server, Storage and Networking (ESS&N) divisions as a highly profitable lever that can help to quickly lift overall HP profitability. The appointment reinforces the perceived importance of outside experience in running the software business following the hiring of ex-Microsoft executive Bill Veghte as the head of the HP Software and Services division,” Williams wrote.

Veghte is a 19-year Microsoft veteran who recently ran the Windows franchise.

Apotheker, who has been described as flamboyant by some European IT people, is a relatively unknown personality for many industry people in the US.

“In short, we don’t know much about him – but he ran a really big software company,” Steve Duplessie, Principle at Enterprise Strategy Group, told eWEEK. “That’s what I find most interesting. He didn’t run any traditional product businesses, HP’s bread and butter but did run a major enterprise software company.

“With Hurd going to Oracle, maybe the HP board is ready to take on the software giant next? It’s pure speculation of course, but if you wanted to find a new area of business where you don’t really play, that generates many billions annually, why not that space?  Maybe HP buys SAP next…,” he ventured.