“Carly Fiorina took the stage at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to introduce a new camera from Hewlett-Packard Co., joined by singer Gwen Stefani, who shot a selfie with the beaming chief executive,” Robert McMillan reports for The Wall Street Journal. “‘I can’t believe I’m on stage with this woman,’ said Ms. Stefani, who was introduced by Ms. Fiorina as H-P’s ‘hippest product engineer’ for the singer’s help designing the camera’s case and accessories.”
“Ms. Fiorina wasn’t around long enough to see the camera ship to stores. She was fired a month later by the H-P board of directors,” McMillan reports. “As Ms. Fiorina campaigns for the Republican Party nomination, she presents her tenure at H-P from July 1999 to February 2005 as evidence of a business-based competence she would bring to the White House.”
“‘Carly is a brilliant sales person, and she did an exquisitely good job of selling the Compaq merger to a cynical market,’ said George Keyworth, a former H-P board member. ‘But what she could not do was execute,'” McMillan reports. “Ms. Fiorina’s supporters, who include former H-P chief financial officer Bob Wayman, said the acquisition gave the company an advantage over its fastest-charging rival at the time, Dell, and set up H-P to survive the tech carnage of the early 2000s. ‘If Carly had survived another six-to-nine months, I think she wouldn’t have been fired,’ he said.”
“The board ousted Ms. Fiorina as the deal was about to bear fruit, according to Mr. Wayman and other supporters. Among those who have since been persuaded to that view is Tom Perkins, a venture capitalist who had retired from the H-P board while Ms. Fiorina was CEO but returned to vote for her ouster,” McMillan reports. “The board’s discontent led to a standoff that Ms. Fiorina lost.”
“In 1999, H-P had been a highly decentralized company with dozens of autonomous entities, each responsible for their own profit and loss statements. By 2005, Ms. Fiorina had centered power in the CEO’s office,” McMillan reports. “The board wanted her to give some of it back… Ms. Fiorina put her foot down. ‘The board decided that if she wouldn’t yield on these things, she would have to go,’ said Mr. Perkins, the former H-P board member. ‘But Carly demanded that she be fired.'”
“Since voting to fire Ms. Fiorina, Mr. Perkins has transformed into a supporter, contributing $25,000 to the Carly for America super PAC and planning to host a fundraiser for her presidential bid at his San Francisco penthouse. He now blames H-P’s board for the company’s troubles, and said Ms. Fiorina deserved credit for improvements that Mr. Hurd achieved as CEO,” McMillan reports. “‘He did a very good job of implementing the structure that Carly had put in place,’ Mr. Perkins said. ‘He was more acceptable to the mass of Hewlett-Packard employees than Carly was. I mean, Carly was a glamour figure.'”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We want those soy sauce-dispensing chopsticks! (See full article.)
As for Fiorina, we know one thing: She got Jobbed. She wasn’t the first nor was she the last. As we wrote back in February 2005:
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!”
SEE ALSO:
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has a long history of talking about Steve Jobs – September 17, 2015
Carly Fiorina: Tim Cook’s opposition to Indiana religious freedom law hypocritical – April 6, 2015
Report: Hewlett-Packard to stop reselling Apple iPods by September [UPDATED] – July 29, 2005
Carly Fiorina resigns as boss of Hewlett-Packard – February 9, 2005
Hewlett-Packard ousts CEO Carly Fiorina, and what was with that ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal anyway? – February 9, 2005
Analyst: Hewlett-Packard may want to make their own MP3 music players – July 29, 2005
HP adds ‘Apple iPod shuffle from HP’ to digital music player line – July 01, 2005
Hewlett-Packard adds ‘Apple iPod mini from HP’ to iPod digital music player lineup – June 02, 2005
Hewlett-Packard expands branded iPod lineup, announces ‘Apple iPod photo from HP’ models – April 12, 2005
Hewlett-Packard adds ‘iPod dock holder’ to latest Media Center desktop – March 31, 2005
What’s the point of continuing the ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal? – March 30, 2005
Apple, Hewlett-Packard debut new iPod television commericals – August 30, 2004
Hewlett-Packard-branded Apple iPod to debut Friday – August 26, 2004
Why Hewlett-Packard took Apple’s iPod shortcut – February 02, 2004