HP's new chief executive, Leo Apotheker, will earn an annual salary of $1.2 million, according to regulatory filings. He will also be provided with a $4 million signing bonus and a $4.6 million re-location benefit.
In a Friday morning conference call, Apotheker – a veteran of the software industry – pledged to make software more of a focus at HP going forward, though he had few details about how that might play out.
"I believe … that HP should be more valuable than the sum of its parts, and in order to make that happen, we all believe … that software is sort of the glue to make that happen," he said.
HP announced Thursday that Apotheker would became its new CEO, effective Nov. 1. He takes over for Cathy Lesjak, who has served as interim CEO since the controversial exit of former chief Mark Hurd amidst a sexual harassment probe.
Apotheker comes from SAP, where he worked for 20 years and served briefly as its CEO until his resignation in February.
Bob Ryan, HP's lead independent director, said during Friday's call that HP was looking for a "strategic thinker with a passion for technology." After narrowing down its search to about six internal and external candidates, the board "unanimously" agreed that Apotheker will be a "strong and passionate voice" at HP, Ryan said.
Most of the questions from analysts on Friday's call, however, centered on Apotheker's software background. When asked if HP will switch to an Oracle model of having hardware and apps under one roof, Apotheker declined to directly address Oracle, where former CEO Hurd is now president. He did say, however, that "there is a massive disruption along all of the value chains and all the components of the technology stack. We believe at HP that this is a great opportunity for us."
"HP has such a diversified mix of business and products and services that I believe that we are uniquely positioned to be strong in every part of the stack," Apotheker continued. It is a "little bit early to say which part we are good or better at," but there will be ample opportunity to define that in the months ahead, he said.
"I happen to believe that HP is an under-valued property," Apotheker said.
Apotheker said he will spend the next few weeks and months traveling the globe to meet with HP employees, customers, and shareholders.