HP Chairman Ray Lane steps down

HP Chairman Ray Lane

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

Hewlett-Packard Chairman Ray Lane is giving up his post as the company initiates yet another board shakeup. Lane's tenure featured a few massive debacles.

Ralph Whitworth, a shareholder activist, will be a stand-in until a replacement is named. Lane will stay on HP's board, but John Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson will step down.

The moves, initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and others, represent another shakeup for HP's historically dysfunctional board. But CEO Meg Whitman and the company had to do something following a series of missteps.

• First, there was the HP acquisition of Autonomy. HP bought Autonomy in 2011 for a whopping $11 billion and drained its balance sheet.


• Then HP wrote down $8.8 billion in goodwill for the deal.


• And finally, HP claimed it bought Autonomy based on shady accounting.

Where was the due diligence on Autonomy? While the answers are still fuzzy, the solution is clear. The board had to have some turnover. It's also worth noting that Hammergren and Thompson barely kept their board seats.

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