HP's Dunn is gone, Hurd hangs on

EX HACK Patricia Dunn, chairman of the board of HP, quit with immediate effect today as ramifications of the formerly proudly ethical firm started to cause waves seriously threatening its CEO, Mark Hurd.

HP had hoped Dunn could hang on until January next year. Now Dunn's gone, the albatross is around Hurd's neck, as he is not only CEO of HP, but chairman too.

Hurd decided to talk late Friday, probably hoping the news would be buried over the weekend. Fat chance.

HP has managed, or mismanaged if you like, to simultaneously hack off newspapers on the right and left, and even in the middle, by conducting probes on hacks which must threaten CEO's Mark Hurd's position too, in America.

Ex-NCR exec Hurd carried on apologising for investigating "leaks" from the "board" which included CIA like tactics, but the damage has already been done, and his job must be on the line too.

HP, which used to pride itself on "ethics" and "integrity" and even inventing things, is now suffering from massive internal ironies.

Some real idiot at HP must be held responsible for tracking American hacks at right wing newspaper the Wall Street Journal, left wing newspaper the New York Times and middle of the road IT rag news.com. Never mind our friends at Business Week.

The buck stops here and the institutional investors must be wondering about HP's futures. ( WSJ - free today, thanks to Philips, maker of light bulbs).

Thing is, Pandora's Box has only just opened, and there's much, much more to come. µ

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