The HP board did exactly what I and many other people in tech told them not to do and hired Meg Whitman as CEO. For everyone who competes against HP this is a good thing.
Putting aside the fact she bailed on eBay the moment it started facing real competitive pressure lets look at her last gig as Gubernatorial candidate for California.
To the numbers!
Whitman’s opponent was Democrat Jerry Brown. A political insider and part of the Democratic machine to her “born to the purple” (Roman reference) Silicon Valley success story.
Over the course of the campaign Whitman spent $11.7M on political consultants. Brown spent $167K. Whitman spent $10.5M on campaign materials. Brown spent $2.5M. Whitman paid $5.9M in campaign staff salaries. Brown paid $157K. Whitman spent $2.3M (That’s Million) on office expenses. Brown spent $132K.
All in when the election was over their total expenditure came to:
Brown (Deemed to be elected): $24.8M. Whitman: $160M ($141M out of her own pocket)
Meg Whitman spent six times as much as her opponent, netting out at $50 per vote received, and she was demolished by Brown on election day.
When under pressure and asked to perform she has come up short, regardless of the substantial assets available to her, twice in a row.
