Investors Unfazed by Board Changes at Tech Giants

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By Trey Thoelcke Published
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Investors appear largely unfazed by announced board changes at tech giants Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL). Shares of the former were up Wednesday in early afternoon trading, buoyed no doubt by the strong earnings report from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) rather than by news of the departure of its interim chair. Google announced late Tuesday that it was bringing on board former Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) CEO Alan Mulally, but shares were up only marginally.

Mulally may be the turnaround specialist, but of the two companies, HP is the one struggling to return to consistent growth. HP announced Tuesday that interim chairman and activist investor Ralph Whitworth will step down for undisclosed health-related reasons. Whitworth reportedly had undergone treatment for throat cancer earlier this year.

HP’s search for a permanent chair continues, as does its work on turning itself around after the market for personal PCs tanked and following the disastrous acquisition of software-maker Autonomy.

While Mulally’s skills as a turnaround artist may not be in much demand at Google, he could be of some service on projects like Google’s driverless car, which so far has earned little respect and has few prospects for widespread adoption.

HP shares were up about 2% in afternoon trading to $34.88, in a 52-week range of $20.25 to $35.20. Google shares were fractionally higher, at $594.02 in a 52-week range of $421.91 to $615.05.

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Photo of Trey Thoelcke
About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.

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