Silicon Valley veteran and politically connected former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered to replace Leo Apotheker as Hewlett-Packard's CEO, according to sources speaking with All Things D.
HP stock spiked after the rumors surfaced and closed up 6.72 percent for the day.
Apotheker's recent moves -- shuttering TouchPad, WebOS and shopping the PC business -- has left at least 500 people out of work. Those layoffs were announced this morning. The TouchPad was on shelves only a couple of months before Best Buy asked HP to buy them back. Instead they dropped the price to $99 and liquidated the inventory.
HP also recently announced it was expanding its footprint in Africa, with plans to open offices in 10 African countries.
Whitman led eBay to pre-eminence, joining in 1998 when the company only had 30 employees. She took a young startup and transformed it into one of Silicon Valley's largest companies with more than 15,000 employees and $8 billion in revenue.
But Whitman's tenure at eBay was not without controversy. She was known for being a demanding CEO and was accused by a former employee of shoving her in a meeting. eBay reportedly reached a six figure settlement with the employee.
