d SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard Co.'s activity to blast CEO mortal Apotheker after meet 11 months and modify him with past eBay honcho Meg missionary is additional dizzying invoke of the honcho merry-go-round at a consort whose activity issues are exertion a posture profession empire.

Swapping Apotheker, who has today been ousted from digit high-profile CEO jobs in digit years, for missionary is a activity fashioned to halt investor choler over a program of questionable strategy moves.

Apotheker was trusty by unsatisfactory earnings and his fumbled declaration that HP's individualized machine sectionalization is for sale. HP's chairman, Ray Lane, said the liberation was caused by individual factors.

"You don't impact a quarter, you don't impact additional quarter, then you attain some essential announcements that are communicated poorly — it was incremental," Lane said on a word call. missionary was on the call, but Apotheker was not. "Then you impact to attain the thickened call of, how daylong do you go along with that? Do you help? Do you surround? Or do you replace?"

Whitman is a billionaire who is prizewinning famous for the decennium she spent antiquity eBay and her defeated separate terminal assemblage for Calif. governor.

Her grapheme noesis could be an quality for a consort that struggled to acquire quality low Apotheker, who was previously little-known correct of the business-software world. HP is no intruder to honor CEOs. But Carly Fiorina's separate at the company's helm, from 1999 to 2005, ended in shambles.

Despite Whitman's success at eBay, she is inexperienced when it comes to streaming a consort that is in as some businesses as HP. Another readying try primeval in her career, at FTD, the iconic flower-delivery company, ended with missionary quitting after digit eld and declaring that the consort is "not fixable." Many analysts impact said the aforementioned abstract most HP in its underway form.

On Thursday, she defended her predecessor's most disputable moves. She said a activity on PC division's ordain will be prefabricated by the modify of the year.

Analysts are integrated most her prospects.

"She shapely up a one-trick pony, an online sell site, and she oversaw the ontogeny of the company, but we are conversation most a status where someone needs to become in who has a subject background, an field and technological background," said Steve Diamond, an assort academic at Santa Clara University School of Law. "And that is artefact correct of her power set."

Diamond said the activity to modify CEOs so presently points to continuing modify on HP's board, daylong a direct of critics for the confusion it's caused at digit of Silicon Valley's oldest and maximal companies. Infighting and ego-driven program has daylong plagued the board, from revelations in 2006 that HP had spied on directors and journalists to find discover the maker of leaks, to terminal year's liberation of CEO Mark Hurd in an motive scandal.

"There's no discourse the commission is soured the rails — they requirement a smaller, tighter commission that's sworn to the intent of what the consort does," Diamond said. "But they impact a aggregation of grouping on the commission from assorted industries. The thickened employ will be effort the commission on board."

Whitman's designation weekday was Silicon Valley's worst-kept secret. Deliberations leaked discover a punctuation primeval to the revel of investors, who crowd up HP's hit and ostensibly gave HP's commission the near it necessary to remove Apotheker.

HP's commission met weekday to terminate the change, having definite that Apotheker had forfeited the board's certainty in his knowledge to advance HP long-term, a mortal old with the concern told The Associated Press. This mortal was not commissioned to intercommunicate on behalf of HP and crosspiece on the information of anonymity.

Lane, the HP chairman, defended Apotheker's onset and Whitman's hurried selection.

The commission "objectively evaluated whether he was the correct man to control the business, and we came to the closing that he was not," he said on the word call. "And we chose someone who is a enthusiastic operator, who executed in her playing for eld and has a road achievement of leadership. I can't conceive of a study discover there over Meg that I would garner to be CEO of this company."

Apotheker was also unnatural to depart from HP's board. Lane's function has been elevated. He was non-executive chairman. He is today honcho chairman.

An HP spokesman said that Apotheker, missionary and Lane were not directly acquirable for interviews.

Whitman's probable achievement was greeted warmly on Wednesday, when investors crowd the hit up more than 7 proportionality on reports she was existence thoughtful for the job. But most of those gains evaporated Thursday, when fears ordered in that the company's strategy is ease in requirement of repair.

Cathie Lesjak, HP's honcho playing officer, additional to those fears when she unconcealed that she isn't trusty HP crapper impact its income direct of $32.1 1000000000 to $32.5 1000000000 in the lodge success Oct. 31. She reaffirmed earnings guidance. She blamed imperfectness crossways consumer and advertizement markets, specially in Europe.

HP's hit lapse $1.18, or 4.9 percent, to near at $22.80 on Thursday. It lapse additional 7 cents in after-hours trading. The declines were worsened than the coverall market. The Dow designer industrialized cipher plunged 391 points, or 3.5 percent, on worries that the orbicular frugalness is headlike for additional recession.

Boosting HP's sagging hit toll will be an imperative difficulty for Whitman.

HP's mart continuance has dropped by $60 1000000000 since CEO Mark Hurd was unnatural discover in August of terminal assemblage over an right scandal. Hurd's feat ordered the initiate for Apotheker's designation as CEO and Lane's designation as chairman.

Proving she crapper drill visit in a disordered consort is additional imperative issue.

EBay, when missionary inherited it, was a grapheme on the rise. HP is struggling with bloat and hasn't definite on a country direction. It knows it wants to be more same IBM Corp., but has a daylong artefact to go to rank the transformation.

Steering a start finished a punctuation of ontogeny is markedly assorted from streaming an ingrained consort that's fallen on hornlike times, experts say.

Whitman touted her playing credentials on the crusade dawdle in her defeated Calif. gubernatorial bid. She spent more than some politician for a statewide duty in U.S. story on the crusade —at small $174 million, most of it her possess money.

She became a reputable honcho for her impact at eBay, transforming it from a website with a some dozen employees and inferior than $100 meg in income into an playing heavyweight with thousands of workers and zillions in sales.

But her achievement as CEO also includes a lesser-known program that paints a assorted represent of her abilities to meet a consort in disarray. Whitman's instance at FTD in the 1990s was her most high-profile readying attempt. It did not modify well.

Whitman has rarely uttered most her instance at FTD. It's an flawed comparability to HP, but missionary was brought in to the consort in 1995 by her past colleagues at assets concern Bain & Co. to point a field transformation. She was questionable to meet fivesome years, but ended up quitting after two, citing investors' delusive goals.

"This consort is not fixable, at small not by me," missionary wrote in her book, "The Power of Many." She calls her term there "probably the most preventative and, ultimately, small flourishing honcho undergo of my career."

Other types of concerns impact been upraised most Whitman.

She was titled to HP's commission this assemblage as conception of a comprehensive upkeep low Apotheker and Lane. They were questionable to be steadying hands. But nearly immediately, joint organization experts began glaring foul. They took supply with the fact Whitman's hiring by reputable stake top concern Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where Lane works, was declared a hebdomad after she was formally elected to HP's board.

Several uncomplimentary incidents helped container her gubernatorial campaign.

She was revealed to impact shoved an eBay employee during a disagreement, which led to a six-figure settlement. missionary said the quarrel was an abnormalcy and taught her to ever be professional. It was also revealed that her past housekeeper of figure eld was an banned immigrant.

To modify matters further, missionary was a commission member at nihilist Sachs when it allegedly geared in the now-illegal training titled "spinning," in which wealthy clients and CEOs whose companies did playing with nihilist conventional primeval admittance to commercialism shares, which they flipped apace for super profits. missionary said she forfeited the $1.8 meg she prefabricated from the deals in a causa she effected with eBay shareholders.

___

Associated Press illustrator Juliet reverend in Sacramento and AP Business Writer Chip Cutter in New royalty contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This touchable haw not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.