Apotheker was tapped in September of last year to replace CEO Mark Hurd, after Hurd resigned his position amid a sexual harassment investigation. HP said that they found no sexual harassment violations as a result of the investigation, but did unearth violations of their “standards of business conduct.”

Of course, Meg Whitman had another high-profile CEO gig in past, as CEO of eBay. She also was a candidate for governor of California. Whitman is already a current HP board member, but now she is taking the reins as full-time President and CEO. This move had been expected.

Ray Lane has been appointed Executive Chairman, as he had this to say about Whitman in a release –

We are fortunate to have someone of Meg Whitman’s caliber and experience step up to lead HP. We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead. Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer focused with deep leadership capabilities. Furthermore, as a member of HP’s board of directors for the past eight months, Meg has a solid understanding of our products and markets.

Whitman inherits a company going through some tough times. Apotheker was ousted after HP stock fell over 40% this year. Last month, HP announced that they were spinning ff their PC business. And just seven weeks after the promising HP TouchPad tablet hit the shelves, they discontinued all webOS devices, which resulted in a $99 firesale of the TouchPad.

Whitman said that she is “honored and excited to lead HP. I believe HP matters – it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world.”

HP says the pick-up will enhance the company’s capabilities for information optimization, and that Vertica’s platform will help its customers analyze massive amounts of data for "real-time business intelligence."

"In today’s highly competitive environment, customers need the ability to manage the increasing amounts of data and growing streams of information with more flexible, more dynamic architectures,’ said HP EVP and chief strategy officer Shane Robison. "Vertica’s unique platform combines simplicity with industry-leading performance, allowing HP to leap ahead of the industry in the race to analyze massive amounts of data."

"By combining Vertica’s offerings with HP’s brand and global reach, customers will benefit from the commitment, expertise and resources from the largest technology company in the world," said Christopher Lynch, president and CEO of Vertica. "Combined with HP, we will be able to better help customers develop flexible business performance solutions that improve decision making and streamline business processes."

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Vertica has reportedly raised  $30.5 million in funding. 

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of HP’s fiscal year 2011. Vertica’s products will be available through HP sales and service channels.

Robert Scoble says the company has "fired Microsoft" and that it is making Android "look even more creaky (and RIM, Nokia, Microsoft not in the game)." Not bad for PR. 

The company also announced a new marketing campaign with the theme of "Everybody On". It’s a global campaign that "celebrates how people around the world are using HP technology to pursue their personal and professional passions." 

"Technology plays a vital role in how people explore, develop and enable their passions," said Richard Gerstein, SVP, Strategy and Worldwide Marketing, Personal Systems Group at HP. "Five years ago the personal computer was the center of one’s connected life, while today people are at the center and their technology – across smartphones, tablets, PCs and cloud services – needs to provide seamless connectivity to what is important to them."

The campaign will span music, fashion, community activism, business, and more, according to the company, and it is supported by an integrated campaign featuring print, broadcast, online, and social media. The campaign itself was created by HP’s own Personal Systems Group, and build on its "The Computer is Personal Again" campaign. 

The launch will kick off with a minute-long TV spot featuring Lou Reed’s "Walk on the Wild Side", then the first in a series of TV spots will be launched during the Grammy Awards featuring Alicia Keys.

"Léo is a strategic thinker with a passion for technology, wide-reaching global experience and proven operational discipline – exactly what we were looking for in a CEO," said Robert Ryan, lead independent director of HP’s Board. "After more than two decades in the industry, he has a strong track record of driving technological innovation, building customer relationships and developing world-class teams."

Ryan added, "Léo has been a leader in anticipating the transformation taking place in our industry, and we believe he is uniquely positioned to help accelerate HP’s strategy. He has demonstrated success in the U.S. market and also has vast international experience – which will be a major asset as HP continues to expand globally, particularly in high-growth emerging markets. HP has the right assets and market positions, and now we have the best team to realize the company’s enormous potential."

"HP has a powerful mix of businesses, products and services, one of the most innovative cultures in the industry, and an accomplished management team who have played a critical role in its success," said Apotheker. "I am deeply honored to be joining the more than 300,000 dedicated HP employees."

"Given HP’s diversified products and services, its financial strength, and its leadership position across markets, no other company is as well positioned to drive – and profit from – the revolutionary changes under way in the marketplace," he added. "As we move forward, HP will continue to be a valued partner with our customers as well as a fierce competitor. I look forward to working with the outstanding people at HP to write the next chapter in the company’s long and proud history."

HP’s Board also elected Ray Lane, Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, as a new member of the Board and designated him as non-executive Chairman. 

HP says the addition of Stratavia will help strengthen its software and solutions portfolio, adding deployment, configuration, and management solutions for enterprise databases, middleware, and packaged applications.

HP’s goal is to simplify app deployment and management in hybrid IT environments.

"As applications and IT environments become increasingly complex, organizations need to automate changes that range from large-scale application updates to simple one-line configuration updates with consistency and control," said Bill Veghte, executive vice president, Software and Solutions, HP. "Stratavia’s database and application automation solutions, combined with HP’s leading Business Service Automation portfolio, give organizations a one-stop shop for infrastructure and application deployment management."

"For eight years, Stratavia has been focused on developing application deployment automation solutions supporting tasks including provisioning, code deployment, configuration management, compliance, patching, as well as common user requests including migrations, refresh and back-ups," said Stratavia CEO Thor Culverhouse. "Combining Stratavia’s offerings with HP Server Automation will give clients a way to simplify and automate application deployment operations, minimizing downtime and mistakes."

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The company says the investigation determined there was no violation of HP’s sexual harassment policy, but did find violations of HP’s "Standards of Business Conduct."

Hurd had the following to say: "As the investigation progressed, I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career. After a number of discussions with members of the board, I will move aside and the board will search for new leadership. This is a painful decision for me to make after five years at HP, but I believe it would be difficult for me to continue as an effective leader at HP and I believe this is the only decision the board and I could make at this time. I want to stress that this in no way reflects on the operating performance or financial integrity of HP."

"The corporation is exceptionally well positioned strategically," he added. "HP has an extremely talented executive team supported by a dedicated and customer focused work force. I expect that the company will continue to be successful in the future."

Robert Ryan, lead independent director of the Board, added, "The board deliberated extensively on this matter. It recognizes the considerable value that Mark has contributed to HP over the past five years in establishing us as a leader in the industry. He has worked tirelessly to improve the value of HP, and we greatly appreciate his efforts. He is leaving this company in the hands of a very talented team of executives. This departure was not related in any way to the company’s operational performance or financial condition, both of which remain strong. The board recognizes that this change in leadership is unexpected news for everyone associated with HP, but we have strong leaders driving our businesses, and strong teams of employees driving performance."

HP’s Board of Directors has appointed CFO Cathie Lesjak as CEO on an interim basis. She has 24 years with the company under her belt. She will also retain her CFO responsibilities during the interim period. "I accept the position of interim CEO with the clear goal to move the company forward in executing HP’s strategy for profitable growth," she said. "We have strong market momentum and our ability to execute is irrefutable as demonstrated by our Q3 preliminary results."

A Search Committee of the Board of Directors has been created to oversee the process for finding a new CEO and Board Chair.

Original Article (04/28): Hewlett-Packard just announced its intent to buy Palm for $1.2 Billion at $5.70 per share. The transaction has already been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors.

The move was made to give HP a better shot at winning some smartphone marketshare – an industry quickly growing.

"Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. "And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market."

"We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS," said Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein. "We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners."

Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.

HP says the combination of these two companies will transform the networking industry and "underscore HP’s next-generation data center strategy." The company believes this will help customers simplify networks and improve IT service delivery capabilities.

"Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor," said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Servers and Networking, HP. "By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry. By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com’s extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center."

HP’s Ethernet switching offerings will see a significant expansion as a result from the acquisition. It will also add routing solutions, and greatly strengthen  HP’s position in China. They will also be adding a large research and development team in that country.

"Our extensive product line and innovative technology together with HP’s breadth and scale will expand our global opportunity," said 3Com CEO Bob Mao. "3Com’s networking products are based on a modern architecture which has been designed to offer better performance, require less power and eliminate administrative complexity when compared against current network offerings. Our products are enterprise proven and widely deployed in the world’s largest banks, manufacturers, Internet service providers, public utilities and retailers."

HP will be getting 3Com’s security solutions, which include its TippingPoint line, which is apparently used among 30% of Fortune 1000 companies.

The deal is still subject to domestic and foreign regulatory approval, as well as approval from 3Com’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of next year.

Related Articles:

> Intel Pays AMD $1.25 Billion, Following That $1.5 Billion Fine

> Cisco Announces $3 Billion Starent Networks Acquisition

> Cisco Says It’s Building a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

"A person familiar with the situation" said the loss will occur over the next 12 to 18 months, according to Scott Morrison.  Which obviously involves a lot of assumptions about the long term.

Also, for whatever it’s worth, Morrison wrote, "Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo acknowledged that losing the deals could cost it some share, but said the estimate of three percentage points was higher than its calculations suggest.  Prabhakar Raghavan, who is responsible for Yahoo’s search strategy, declined to be more specific."

Still, depending on whether you prefer to start with the February standings from comScore, Hitwise, or Nielsen, the predicted loss would leave Yahoo with a market share of 17.6, 14.0, or 13.7 percent, respectively.

It’ll be interesting to see if Yahoo responds with any sort of extra push to have people reinstate it (or set it for the first time) as their default search provider.

Microsoft apologized for the whole incident and promised to deliver the full refund for those who got ripped off. They also provided some details about what happened at the Live Search blog:

- A significant spike in traffic caused the system to go down for several hours on Friday.

– The downtime was partly related to investigating the issue and partly to rebuilding and redeploying the databases and indexes that support Microsoft Live Search cashback.

– The issues that caused Friday’s problem have been resolved. We’re confident we won’t have further problems.

Customers who completed a purchase that day, can follow up on a cashback rebate by contacting Microsoft at support.search.live.com. You must have your order number and the email address you used with the order to receive the rebate. 

"Let’s hope they are prepared for more traffic now, esp. with the new Live Search Instant Cashback feature for eligible shoppers on eBay! It does explain somewhat why we still haven’t seen the promised roll out to other markets," says a post at LiveSide.net.

Did people actually expect this to go smoothly? On Black Friday?