Rumor: HP's search to replace Hurd as CEO includes inside, outside candidates 13

At the end of last week, we saw dueling rumors regarding the likeliest successors to HP's recently ousted CEO Mark Hurd. First came a brief (and we'd say very sketchy) item on Benzinga that HP had offered the job to Tim Cook, Apple Computer's chief operating officer. Quick on the heels of that story came a much more detailed article from BusinessWeek that HP's board was in fact leaning toward an internal candidate rather than someone from outside the company. According to BusinessWeek, while HP's CFO Cathie Lesjak, who has been serving as interim CEO since Hurd left, does not wish to be considered, five other HP executives are being discussed: 

The short list includes Vyomesh Joshi, who runs HP’s printer business; Todd Bradley, head of the personal-computer division; Dave Donatelli, who runs the storage and server unit; Tom Hogan, executive vice president of enterprise sales and marketing; and Ann Livermore, executive vice president of the enterprise business, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private and a choice hasn’t been made.

The piece also suggested that the decision could be announced this week, and noted that hiring from within could avoid some of the legal issues involving other companies' employment contracts (the type of dispute that, for example, HP is involved with now over Hurd's firing and rapid hiring by Oracle).

One final note about HP's reported insider short list: Todd Bradley is not just the "head of the personal-computer unit," but more specifically the Executive Vice President for HP's Personal Systems Group, which includes Palm, and a former Palm executive in his own right. Should he get the nod from HP's board, it may mean an even brighter future for Palm within HP.

Sources: Benzinga, BusinessWeek; Thanks to crg28 in our forum!