http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/clo ... 62098.htmlSeptember 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO: As corporate intrigue goes, it is hard to beat this: an uproar over news leaks from the boardroom, a cloak-and-dagger investigation, allegations of spying and double-dealing, and a clash involving some of Silicon Valley's best-known names that could end in lawsuits and possibly criminal charges.
The furore at Hewlett-Packard, the giant personal computer and printer company, began unfolding when Thomas Perkins, a pioneer venture capitalist, quit the board after an investigation pointed to a friend on the board as a source of the news leaks.
Perkins' pique turned to outrage when he learned that investigators working for the company had posed as the directors themselves, armed with at least part of their Social Security numbers - a method commonly used by hackers and identity thieves - to obtain their personal phone and email records.
Those tactics are now the focus of a criminal investigation by the California attorney general - and the heart of a whodunnit.
It is the latest episode in a soap opera that began in early 2005 with the board's ouster of its chief executive, Carly Fiorina, after news reports surfaced about directors' dissatisfaction with her. Fiorina, for a time the country's most prominent female executive, will have her own say in a much-anticipated memoir next month.
Perkins, in a letter to his former board colleagues, said the whole affair amounts to "probable unlawful conduct, improper board practices, breakdowns in corporate governance" and general disarray at a company with which he was long associated. His anger seemed directed in particular at the chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, who ordered the investigation.
That Perkins was the only one of 11 directors to resign suggests that the case for an ethical and legal breach is not clear cut.
Perkins, who was briefly married to the best-selling author Danielle Steel and recently wrote a racy novel titled Sex and the Single Zillionaire, did not respond to requests for comment. A representative said Perkins was in the Mediterranean on his new $US100 million ($131 million), 287-foot yacht, the Maltese Falcon, and did not want to be disturbed.
For Hewlett-Packard, the quintessential Silicon Valley company, the upheaval comes at an improbable time: as the troubles that preceded Fiorina's dismissal have given way to strong growth in revenue and profits under her successor, Mark Hurd. (Who is to thank for that turnaround is expected to be a central theme of Fiorina's book.)
So much literature coming out of Silicon Valley
Sex and the Single Zillionaire
http://forums.cricketmx.com/viewtopic.php?p=68430#68430
Tough Choices: A Memoir
http://forums.cricketmx.com/viewtopic.php?p=68431#68431
