Hewlett-Packard Co.’s Mark Hurd resigned as chief executive officer after an investigation found he had a personal relationship with a contractor who received numerous inappropriate payments from the company. Hurd submitted receipts for expenses ranging from $1,000 to $20,000 over two years, including meals and travel, that should have been labeled as personal and not related to business, said a person familiar with the situation.

While an investigation didn’t find a violation of the company’s sexual-harassment policy, Hurd “demonstrated a profound lack of judgment that seriously undermined his credibility and damaged his effectiveness in leading HP,” General Counsel Michael Holston said. The shares plunged 9.3 percent in late trading after the announcement.

Hurd will get a severance payment of $12.2 million, plus other benefits that include a prorated vesting settlement of 330,177 restricted HP shares. He received $30.3 million in compensation in 2009 and $42.4 million the year before.

Questions:

1.  Who was the CEO of Hewlett Packard before Hurd?  Why did she leave the company and what is she doing now?

2. What has been one of HP’s recent acquisitions and who are their competitors?

3. The company’s stock-market value increased $44.6 billion, rising to $108.1 billion, since Hurd took the helm on April 1, 2005.  What percentage increase is this since April 1, 2005?

Source:

Guglielmo, Connie, Ian King and Aaron Ricadela. (2010). HP Chief Executive Hurd Resigns After Sexual-Harassment Probe, Bloomberg Business Week , August 7 (Retrievable online at http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-07/hp-chief-executive-hurd-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-probe.html)