Former HP CEO Fiorina announces Republican presidential bid

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is running for president, and judging by her own website and her brief history in politics, her time at the computer maker will play a major role in that bid.

Fiorina announced the news on her Twitter account and on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. In a video posted to her Twitter account, she said that she's running for president because she believes the US "is at a pivotal point."

She is notable in part for being the first (and perhaps only) former technology executive to join the 2016 race for the White House. She joins a growing number of Republican candidates, including Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, all vying first for the party's nomination and eventually to compete against the Democratic nominee, widely expected at this early date to be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In 2010, Fiorina ran for a US Senate seat in California against incumbent Barbara Boxer. After a bitter fight that saw Fiorina's time during her tenure at HP heavily criticized by Boxer, the former CEO won just 42 percent of the vote.
Indeed, HP could loom large for Fiorina during this campaign. During her tenure as chief executive between 1999 and 2005, she made the controversial decision in 2001 to merge with PC maker Compaq to create the world's largest PC manufacturer. Not long after the deal was announced, Walter Hewlett, the son of co-founder William Hewlett, launched a proxy fight to unseat Fiorina. He said that the Compaq merger was a poor attempt at making a strategic decision and would ultimately hurt the company. Though his proxy fight failed and Fiorina stayed in her role, Hewlett's attempts to remove her created a rift between her and the board that culminated in a messy ouster in 2005.
During her campaign against Boxer, the skeletons resurfaced as the California senator took Fiorina to task, claiming she failed to properly lead the company. Boxer also pointed to claims that Fiorina was difficult to work with and that HP shares were up following her dismissal, indicating that her work left much to be desired.

 

 

On her website, Fiorina has an entire section dedicated to her HP tenure, and says that under her leadership, "great things happened at HP." She lists several accomplishments, including doubling the company's revenues, quadrupling its cash flow, and growing it from the 28th largest company in the US to the 11th.
"Carly didn't always make the most popular decisions at HP -- but, time and time again, they would prove to be the right ones," her site reads. "But even though her record as CEO speaks for itself, Carly faced headwinds from people who did not want to see HP change. They wanted to double-down on a flawed agenda that simply wasn't sustainable against the new challenges of the 21st century.
"Our nation faces this very same problem today -- where career politicians protect the current system that personally benefits them, but no longer works for the American people," the site continues.
Fiorina plans to hold a live stream to answer questions from the public on Twitter at 1 p.m. PT on Monday.