Irony Watch – What’s that Clicking Noise?
As Hewlett-Packard board chair Patricia Dunn is forced from her position amid a scandal in which the company hired private investigators to flush out a leak, HP is set to win the irony of the year award today.
The private investigator used a practice called "pretexting" to get phone records of company board members, reporters and their families, breaking just about every privacy law on the books. CA AG Bill Lockyer (D) has announced a possible criminal investigation into the matter, and it now appears that HP CEO Mark Hurd may have been more involved in the scandal than previously thought. Hurd, once called a Wall Street wunderkind, had helped the company's share price jump dramatically after becoming CEO in 4/05.
Today, the company will hand out the HP/International Association of Privacy Professionals "Privacy Innovation Award," recognizing three groups "that demonstrate high levels of integration of privacy protection throughout their entire business process." Last year's winner? Sprint Nextel.
So, privacy awards while under scrutiny for privacy practices. Great news for the share price, which is down dramatically since yesterday. More bad news for the company? Hurd has scheduled a press conference for today after the bell.
As of this writing, HP's stock has dropped more than 5% today already [REID WILSON].