Hewlett-Packard Chairman Ray Lane stepped down on Thursday as the head of the historic PC maker’s board of directors following a mismanaged acquisition of software company Autonomy.
As we reported in November, HP announced that an internal investigation had found "accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures" in the financial records of Autonomy, the unstructured "big data" analysis software firm acquired by HP in 2011. HP said it had learned of the issue after being tipped off by "a senior member of Autonomy's leadership team." The disclosure came as HP took a non-cash accounting charge of $8.8 billion—over $5 billion of it related directly to Autonomy's alleged book-cooking.
Two other board members are also now leaving, and Ralph Whitworth, a well-known investor who joined HP’s board in 2011, is taking over as the new interim board chairman. As we’ve reported in recent months, HP has been in deep financial trouble and has notable problems ahead.
Ralph Whitworth has served on the boards of many other companies, including Genzyme, Sovereign Bancorp, and even Mattel, the famed toymaker. Lane will be staying on the board, just not as chairman.
“The firm that I represent, Relational Investors, owns roughly $800 million worth of HP’s stock,” Whitworth wrote in a statement. “So, I can assure you that my interests are completely aligned with those of our shareholders.”
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