Board of Directors of Hewlett-Packard Co. on Thursday, as expected , decided to dismiss Leo Apotheker as the company's chief executive officer. His successor will be the ex-CEO of eBay Inc. Meg Whitman. She joined HP's board of directors in January 2011, Bloomberg recalls .

Rumors about Apotheker's possible resignation appeared on Wednesday. Then, a number of informed sources noted that the board of directors of the world's largest manufacturer of personal computers is extremely concerned about the almost two-fold decline in the company's market value over the 11 months that have passed since the appointment of Apotheker as head of HP.

Analysts expected that the next corporate conflict would lead to new changes in HP's development strategy. The latest decisions of management under the leadership of Apotheker about the company's refusal to develop tablets on webOS and the possible sale of the PC production division were negatively received by investors. However, already in her first interview in her new post, Whitman stated that she would continue to carry out the reforms begun by her predecessor. In her opinion, another sharp turn could undermine market confidence in HP's ability to implement its announced plans. Whitman also expressed confidence that the company will fulfill the terms of the deal to buy British Autonomy for more than $10 billion.

The only small change that the head of HP mentioned was the decision to decide on the fate of the PC division in 2011, and not in 2012, as originally planned.

Rumors about Apotheker's resignation were greeted by investors with enthusiasm: at the end of trading on Wednesday, the company's securities quotes rose 6.7% to $23.98, while earlier during trading the price of shares jumped by 11.7%. However, on Thursday, after the announcement of changes in management, the price of HP shares fell by 4.9%.

HP's market capitalization has shrunk about 45% since last November, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index has risen 1.6% over the same period.

Whitman, who turned 55 in August, previously headed eBay Inc. and also held senior executive positions at Disney, Procter & Gamble and Hasbro. She is considered an expert in customer-centric business, but analysts are skeptical about her ability to run a company like HP, where only 25% of revenue comes from direct retail customers.

HP's board of directors fired Leo Apotheker as CEO