Alex1444: Her Severance is around $21 Million. With all her stock options and so forth one news source estimated her total compensation for the last 6 years when all is said and done at around $25 - $50 Million dollars excluding the previously mentioned severance. On average, starting at around $1.7 million in the first year to a high of $3.93 million, she made an average each year of very close to $3 million dollars.

On another note: It amuses me to read articles where the financial gurus are bewildered why with her departure the stock price has gone up. They will never get it !!!!

>>>I think there are two possibilities for HP's future:

Don't split it up. The sum is bigger than the parts. HP make some of the best products in the marketplace. They can become great again. Get Lou Gerstner in part time as a consultant to the new CEO/Board.

I think there are two possibilities for HP's future:

1. Split the company into two parts, along the lines that it is already organized: An enterprise products company and a consumer products company.

or

2. Hire both a new CEO and an new COO who will work together to fix the problems and work to make HP a financially dependable, more smoothly operating, company.

Carly didn't want to do either of these things.

Does anyone know Carly's total pay, for the five and a half years she spent at H-P (including today's little $21 million going-away present)?

I'm not talking about pay & perks, such as the Gulfstreams at her disposal, etc. Also not talking about the $billions she wasted while CEO, or the opportunity cost of what H-P might have been under enlightened leadership.

But what did she get in dollars, her "signing bonus", salary, gifted stock value, gifted options value, and "parting gift"? Just wondering if it's in the $100-200 million range.

Carly and Bob Palmer, CEO that followed Ken Olsen at Digital Equipment Corporation were very much alike. Palmer was flashy, pursued massive layoffs to reduce costs, pursued go to market strategies for products where there was no sizeable market (ie. the Alpha), and ignored traditional bread and butter markets. Yes, I blame the boards for who they appoint as CEO. They should share equally in the blame on who they select as CEO and the strategic direction of the company.

"Why do so many people dislike Carly?" you ask. Let me give a parital list of reason in just a few words; layoffs, outsourcing, poor communication, blaming others for your own incompentence, always worrying about your own image before the company, making business decisions based almost solely on ego and not sound reasons, etc.... I am sure there are more than a few people who can enlarge this list and give specific examples. When you rocket an untrained, unseasoned, inexperienced person to the head of a company for the sole reason of giving the company a more flashy image, bad things are bound to happen and they did in spades. Hope this helps folks to understand the sheer dislike that is out there for Carly. This is the livelihood for many people she was playing with and we take it very seriously. Don't worry I blame the Board of Directors as well for putting her in the position in the first place. That was the FIRST BIG MISTAKE, but then she made the rest.

Carly destroyed many aspects of HP business. Besides that. her efforts made many customers suffer financially due to her whimsical decisions. A telling example of her incompetance (imo) is looking at the Verifone Red Herring. She sold it for $40 mill, after HP dumped $1.3 billion on it. She is the most incompetant overhyped "list" of a flop. The board gave her so much room to perform. She never understood HP strengths. She was very good at "Acting" like a Celebrity CEO, and way too busy with Carly to be HP leader. Oh....she was good at buying corporate jets too her first management action. Too bad so many veteran top players were blamed for her imcompetance. The lat straw was when she fired 3 top people blaming them for her ignorance.

###girl2512 commented on 9 February 2005:
why do so many peole hate carly? ###

Pretty simple.

Even the slightest glance behind the pretty face facade showed her to unskilled and beyond her level of competency-- before HP hired her.

There was never a chance that she could lead HP. It is simply amazing that it took so long to fire her. A man would have gotten fired for the stuff she got away with on the Compaq vote. As an interview on NPR just said "She was great at marketing and speaking." She just marketed herself more than anything.

why do so many peole hate carly? i am not trying to defend her for her strategy blunder in buying compaq,..i agree she made wrong decision. anyway, there are many mergers turn sour, it's just part of capitalism, company buying other company, some work, some don't.

i am sure carly never anticipated the merger to be this bad, but at least she's done her best for HP.

An ironic part of the Carly saga...it looks like the biggest single day percentage gain for HP under her tenure, will be today

Thus the best way for her to add value to the company was to remove herself from it. Ironic, sad, but also just. Good riddance to the arrogant, greedy, self-serving, incompetent, ice queen.

I think there were mistakes all around. The board, Ms. Fiorina, and Mr. Capellas. Oh, and Mr. Walter Hewlett, too. But hindsight is better that foresight, and Ms. Fiorina was a victim of the times, the marketplace, general IT predictions, and the cultures at HP and Compaq. These things didn't fit; and when they don't fit, you must QUIT.

If I could have a $21.1M severance package, you could fire me!!

How about combining SUN and HP, that would provide a good marriage of technologies and leadership

Not likely since lay-offs were Carly's way of cutting costs. And this stuff about "Her" stepping down, face it she was FIRED. She's old news now, BABY !!!!!!

Uh-oh, more HP job losses may well now follow, not just CF.