HPE's Whitman 'gone by the end of the year'

Analyst predicts HPE's CEO will soon depart after it is revealed she was in the running for Uber CEO job

The public revelation that HPE boss Meg Whitman was in the running for the Uber CEO job means her tenure at the vendor will soon end, one analyst suggests.

Whitman, who has been HPE CEO since 2011, had been linked with the top job at Uber, but in July she publicly denied she would be moving to the ride-sharing firm.

Uber has since confirmed that Dara Khosrowshahi - formally CEO at online travel firm Expedia - is to become CEO following the departure of founder Travis Kalanick.

However, Whitman gave media interviews this week and said Uber's board approached her again over the weekend.

"They [Uber] asked what it would take for me to change my mind," Whitman told The Financial Times. "I was not a contender for this job until the weekend — and I'm not even sure I was then."

The open nature of Whitman's links to the Uber role surprised Richard Holway, chairman of analysts TechMarketView.

"The most surprising element of this story - to me, anyway - is that Meg Whitman was in contention for the CEO role at Uber up until the very last minute. This is the kind of news you would expect to be kept extremely confidential," he said.

"At a time of great change for everyone engaged with HPE, it is hardly motivating to learn that your president/CEO is also contemplating jumping ship. Indeed, almost every article I have read today now expects Whitman to be gone by the end of the year."