HP

The shareholders of Hewlett-Packard Inc, commonly referred to as HP, delivered a sharp rebuke to CEO Leo Apotheker, wiping out $16 billion from the company’s market value on concerns that his plan to revive the No. 1 PC maker could do more harm than good in the near term.The company’s shares fell 20 percent on 19 August after a rash of announcements including a costly $11.7 billion acquisition, the killing of its tablet computer and a drawn-out review of its PC business that could lead to a spin-off.[caption id="attachment_66312" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The HP logo. AFP"][/caption]On top of this, the company cut its full-year profit and revenue targets, resulting in the biggest drop of HP shares in a single day since Black Monday in 1987.While Apotheker’s decisions appeared to make sense for the long term, the worry is that they will take too long to realize and cost too much, analysts said.Shares of IT services provider MphasiS, who falls under the shadow of HP, fell near 13% to a 52-week low of Rs 306.20 on NSE early on.   MphasiS hit a 52-week low in morning trade and then recovered sharply, amid a volatile broader market and investors concerns over parent HP’s recent strategic announcements, including plans to sell of its personal computer unit and lowering of full-year guidance.HP, which owns majority of MphasiS, last week said it plans to sell its PC business, and also scrapped its web-OS smartphone and tablet products.HP shares had crashed over 20% in US trading after it also cut its full year profit and revenue forecast, leading to several brokerage houses downgrading the stock.Analysts say that concerns over HP’s reduced outlook and plans to sell-off a chunk of its operations raise a question mark on the overall business environment for MphasiS too, which led to an investors dumping the stock in initial trade.Leo Apotheker, the company’s CEO, who gained a reputation for sharp business acumen when he headed up SAP, thoroughly flummoxed HP shareholders last week with what some analysts have called a “value destroying” $11.7 billion deal to buy British software maker Autonomy and for sticking a for-sale sign on HP’s PC division—thus scaring off clients for the year or so it will take to decide on the division’s future.Since Apotheker joined HP early last November, the company has lost almost 44 percent of its value, and he has lost a significant amount of investor support.Hewlett-Packard Company is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. Now it is one of the world's largest information technology companies, operating in nearly every country. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, and networking hardware, designing software and delivering services.