HP Picks NCR’s Hurd as New CEO

The Wall Street Journal broke the news that HP has found a new CEO. “Mr. Hurd has run NCR since February 2003. When he took the helm, sales were shrinking, pension and retiree costs were swallowing profits and the company’s stock was at a nadir. He pulled the company out of the red, partly by slashing costs. In late January, the Dayton, Ohio company reported that its fourth quarter net income had surged 55% and raised its 2005 earnings forecast for the second time in nine days. NCR makes automated-teller machines and other retail and financial-electronic products.

“H-P directors chose Mr. Hurd because he is a strong executive able to improve operations quickly and execute strategy, one person close to the situation said. Also, “he’s very, very driven'’ and “has run a mini H-P,'’ this person said. BusinessWeek floated Mr. Hurd’s name as a possible CEO candidate earlier this week.

“Mr. Hurd will succeed Carly Fiorina, whom the technology giant forced out last month after she disagreed with the board of directors over how to structure the company. Ms. Fiorina, who ran H-P for five turbulent years, had grown the company largely through the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. But she failed to produce new growth after the combination.

“Mr. Hurd will arrive at a company that currently faces a host of challenges in markets such as server-computers and desktop computers. Competition from rivals such as Dell Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. is fierce. While NCR, like H-P, also plays in a variety of markets, the scale of the two companies is very different. NCR is much smaller than H-P, which produces $80 billion in revenues annually and has 150,000 employees worldwide.” source: Wall Street Journal