Posts Tagged ‘Hewlett-Packard’
The news came blaring across this past Friday afternoon. Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd had abruptly resigned (or had been asked to resign more properly). This occurred after it was revealed that Mr. Hurd had not disclosed a ‘close personal relationship’ with an H-P contractor Jodie Fisher.
Both Mr. Hurd and Ms. Fisher have denied that they had any kind of sexual relationship. As in the case with Tiger Woods and his wife, I say – who cares? What Mr. Hurd (or Mr. Woods) does with regard to his private life should not be any of our concern – but too often that is not the case. The real problem is that Mr. Hurd used $ 20,000 of H-P funds to pay some of Ms. Fisher’s expenses. And that Ms. Fisher was at times paid when there was no legitimate business purpose.
OK, wipe the smirk off your faces now.
Mr. Hurd offered to repay the money. But it was far too late. Just a note for the record – Mr. Hurd made $ 42.5 million in fiscal 2008 http://bit.ly/98dM2P. In 2009 the number was over $ 24 million. I think the real reason Mr. Hurd had to resign is that the directors at Hewlett-Packard were shocked to find out that they man had been anointed a corporate genius in rallying H-P back to prominence was actually not that bright after all.
Is there any reason you can think of to corporate expense $ 20,000 to a still attractive former B-movie actress who was hired as a ‘consultant’ when you made more than $ 60 million over the past two years?
That’s about the worst kind of judgment and were I an H-P shareholder I would have been frightened not to mention furious.
Another shooting star has fallen fast. Is it just me folks or are you also shocked at how smart people can be so dumb?
On May 28th Kodak CMO Jeff Hayzlett will leave Kodak to pursue a television career. He has recently published a book, The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? His new television show is likely to be centered on offering business advice. Mr. Hayzlett has done a remarkable job in keeping Kodak relevant. The fact that he is leaving may be a signal that Kodak is again headed for troubled times. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal http://bit.ly/bmu4DP it was noted that Kodak relies heavily on payments from intellectual property lawsuits to bolster revenue as it waits for the new initiatives to take hold. That does not strike me as an ideal business model.
Under Mr. Hayzlett, the company created the roles of Chief Listener and Chief Blogger and launched a social media team. Kodak also landed a central spot on NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice, where viewers vote for their favorite Kodak Moment of each episode. Kodak also recently launched a new advertising campaign, emphasizing the “share” capability on its cameras, which allows users to post pictures directly to Facebook and other websites.
Having joined Kodak in April of 2006 as SMO and VP of Graphic Communications, Hayzlett was instrumental in helping Kodak gain a foothold in the digital printing marketplace. Competing with HP’s Indigo and Xerox iGen, Kodak’s NexPress is a very solid performer both for print resellers as well as Kodak.
I visited both Xerox and Kodak back in 2006 and toured their facilities when an associate asked me to help him decide which machine to purchase (the NexPress was $ 3.2 million at the time). I was more enamored with the Kodak technology than the Xerox but both platforms were impressive in their own right. And Rochester, NY is lovely in mid-March after all.
Moving into the digital printing arena was a smart move by Kodak. After all, Instamatic cameras were long gone, film cameras a novelty, and digital cameras were being relegated to special occasions as consumers increasingly used their phone or PDA cameras to take photos. So what’s the next play for Kodak? I would not consider the digital print marketplace to be rife with new opportunity.
Kodak CEO Antony Perez will not replace Mr. Hayzlett, who noted that in staying four years at Kodak it was the longest he had ever stayed in one spot. His resume while at Kodak will read well and I suspect he got out while the getting was good.
What kind of future do you think Kodak has?