Hoo, hoo, I laughed out loud when I read this headline.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. sank toward a six-year low in premarket trading Friday after the company said former eBay CEO Meg Whitman will replace Leo Apotheker at the head of HP.
Poor Meg. Another vote of "no confidence". She's having a bad year.
The stock is down about another point as of right now. Analysts just don't seem to feel she's the woman for the job:
Analysts have mixed feelings about Whitman, with many noting that her experience lies with a consumer-oriented dot-com.
"While we believe Meg has proven to be a very capable manager leading eBay from a start-up into a household name and one of the largest internet companies, there will be plenty of scrutiny given her lack of experience in the enterprise business," Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu wrote.
Now, it could be argued that the vote of no confidence is for HP, that analysts feel that they're not going to be able to pull themselves out of the hole, Meg or no, but it's hard not to take a market hit like that as a personal commentary.
Good luck to you, Meg! Glad you're employed and won't be running for office any time soon!