Although a campaign to oust directors narrowly failed, Hewlett-Packard shareholders let the board know that it’s time for a change.
In a vote yesterday, 47.1 percent of shareholders came down against the re-election of John Hammergren, the chairman of HP’s finance and investment committee, and 45 percent gave thumbs down to Kennedy Thompson, chairman of the audit committee.
Shareholders blame the two directors for a number of failed acquisitions that resulted in billions of writedowns for the long-in-the-tooth personal computer maker.
Shareholders are especially peeved over HP’s $10 billion purchase of UK software maker Autonomy in 2011. HP later claimed Autonomy duped it into overpaying through accounting chicanery.
Other acquisition flubs included technology consulting company EDS and mobile device maker Palm.
“This is a huge vote,” said Michael Pryce-Jones of CtW Investment Group, which led the investor revolt. “Shareholders are saying, ‘We don’t trust you to oversee our capital.’ ”
Pryce-Jones said HP should ask the directors to resign.
“We remain committed to strong corporate governance and to maintaining open and frequent communication with our stockholders,” an HP spokesman said.