“Carly Fiorina, one of the most powerful women in American business, was ousted as chairman and chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday after disagreements over strategy at the computer and printer maker. Analysts said Fiorina’s departure would be good for HP, and the company’s shares jumped more than 11 percent in pre-market trading,” Eric Auchard reports for Reuters.

“‘This is a good move for the company. I would say there will be a boost to employee moral because internally people had become frustrated, certainly within the printing division,’ said Shannon Cross, a Wall Street analyst with Cross Research who tracks the printing industry,” Auchard reports. “Peter Sorrentino, chief investment officer of Bartlett & Co. in Cincinnati, also expressed relief at the management change. ‘This was a move that we had long hoped they would take. We thought the stock, just from the imaging business, is worth $24 a share, and you were being impaired as a shareholder because of the other businesses,’ he said.”

Auchard reports, “Fiorina, 50, who joined HP as CEO in 1999, became the lightning rod of criticism among investors and some in the Silicon Valley establishment for pushing through a merger with rival PC maker Compaq Computer in 2002. Robert Wayman, HP’s chief financial officer, was named CEO on an interim basis and appointed to the board of directors of HP. Wayman rose through the ranks at HP after joining the company in 1969. HP said a search for a new CEO was underway.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Let’s face it, Fiorina got jobbed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs with the “Apple iPod by HP” deal. We actually felt bad for her, seeing her onstage holding up that blueish-grey iPod mockup. Steve must have had a really good laugh after he got the ink on that deal. How could Fiorina justify that deal with HP’s slogan “Invent” plastered everywhere? It was totally ridiculous. Why not just come right out and say, “Oh, ‘Invent’ is only a marketing slogan, we don’t really invent anything anymore, silly!” Fiorina always seemed to be in over her head and HP will probably be better off now.