Dunn Resigns, Hurd takes Over

In a dramatic turn to the raging controversy of the Hewlett-Packard's spying scandal, HP’s board asked Chairwoman Patricia Dunn to resign.

In a press conference, in company headquarters in Palo Alto, California, on Friday afternoon, HP’s CEO and president Mark Hurd announced the immediate resignation of Patricia Dunn from her post for her role in a company probe into boardroom leaks to the media.

With Dunn’s resignation from her post, Hurd takes over as the chairman while former HP executive, Richard Hackborn steps into as a ‘lead independent director’ of the computer company, Hewlett-Packard. With these changes HP is now down to nine directors.

Speaking at the press conference, Hurd extended his apologies to all those who were investigated under the probe. He also felt sorry for the inappropriate techniques that were adopted to root out the boardroom leaker. “What began as an investigation with the best of intentions ended up turning in a direction we could not have anticipated” he said.

Hurd regretted that in an attempt to find out who was leaking sensitive company information, the reputation and integrity of the company was staked. Quoting the leak investigation as a "complex situation" he said that complete facts were still not known.

Hurd also said, that he knew about it and condoned HP's initial investigation efforts to track the culprit. Hurd said he had approved an e-mail ruse to track down boardroom leaks, thus admitting for the first time his involvement in the scandal.

Hurd claimed the he approved the setting up of the false email account and the content of the email. In a hope to track down the ‘leaker’, a fake email was sent to a journalist portraying to be from the disgruntled board member. The ‘tracer’ facility enabled in the email would help reveal the identity of the recipients.

The company has been through rough weather ever since the “pre-texting scandal” hit the media. The controversy stained the company’s reputation and attracted the attention of California's attorney general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Justice Committee and a Congressional panel.

Does the exit of the Chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard's would end the scandal game? Only time can tell, but as for now the longer it continues, the more it will harm the company. The company's stock hardly pulled from around $35.11 in late trading on Friday.