‘Lots More Work to Do’ at HP, and ‘I Actually Am Not Going Anywhere,’ Says Whitman

There’s “lots more work to do” at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, “and I actually am not going anywhere,” said CEO Meg Whitman on a Tuesday earnings call when asked about her long-term commitment in light of her recent interest in the Uber CEO opening that ultimately went to Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (see the personals section of the Sept. 1 issue of this publication). Whitman was “called in very late in the Uber search and I thought it was a very interesting business model,” she said. Uber is “actually quite similar to eBay in many ways” in that “it’s very disruptive,” she said. Uber “relies on a community of drivers just like eBay relies on a community of sellers,” and its “growth prospects reminded me of eBay in its early days,” said Whitman, who owns stock in the ride-hailing service. “In the end,” Whitman decided the Uber CEO job “wasn’t the right thing” for her, she said. HPE “is quite special in its own right and we have a very focused strategy and a path forward to build a very big business on what I think is a quite compelling strategy,” she said. “I have dedicated the last six years of my life to this company and there is more work to do and I am here to help make this company successful.”