HP boss Weisler to depart later this year
Head of printing unit Enrique Lores will take over CEO mantle on 1 November
HP CEO Dion Weisler is leaving his role to return to Australia to take care of a "family health matter", but will remain on the company board.
Speaking to investors on an earnings call, Weisler said the decision came after a "great deal of reflection" and was one of the toughest choices he has ever had to make.
His successor is Enrique Lores, currently head of the vendor's imaging, printing and solutions division. He will take over from Weisler (pictured) on 1 November.
"There's nothing more important to me than my family, and I'm making a personal decision to return to Australia to attend to a family health matter," Weisler explained on the call.
"Serving as CEO of this great company for the past four years and having the opportunity to work alongside a truly incredible team has been the honour of my career.
"The HP board has had a rigorous succession planning process since day one of our company, and this process led the board to exactly the right leader to usher in the next era for HP.
"After a thorough review and careful consideration of a full bench of external and internal candidates, I rest easy knowing that the company I love is in the best of hands with Enrique as the next CEO.
"I personally benefited immensely from his leadership during the separation of the Hewlett-Packard company in 2015, when we spent many long days together setting HP on its current course. Enrique brought incredible vision to our separation management office and was a key architect of one of the largest, most complex corporate separations in business history."
Weisler joined HP in 2012 and has headed the print and PC vendor since 2015 when Hewlett-Packard split into HP Inc and HPE.
Lores led the Separation Management Office during the split, and Weisler called him a "key architect" of one of the biggest separations in corporate history.
He joined HP three decades ago as an intern and has led the printer business since 2015, overseeing massive acquisitions of Samsung's printer business in 2017 and partner Apogee last year.
"Thirty years ago, I was drawn to HP by the company's unique ability to bring out the best of humanity through the power of technology," Lores said on the same call.
"The opportunities ahead are vast and the need for us to keep reinventing is more important than ever. I continue to be inspired by our customers, partners and employees, who are turning bold ideas into meaningful innovations. This is where we will set our sights for the future.
"An important part of our strategy is to focus on delivering short-term results and setting the company up for success in the long term.
"As part of a review I've been leading with the board, we focused on growth, but also on simplifying our operating model, evolving our business model and driving significant improvement in our cost structure.
"It's critical that we do so because the needs of our customers are rapidly changing and we must become a more agile organisation that is trying to fully capitalise on the opportunities ahead."
Print problems
The vendor's Q3 was somewhat lacklustre, with flat revenue growth of 0.1 per cent to $14.6bn (£12bn) for the quarter ending 31 July.
However, net earnings soared 34 per cent to $1.1bn compared with the same period last year.
Turnover for its Personal Systems PC unit grew three per cent in Q2 to $9.6bn, with its commercial segment growing 10 per cent, and its consumer business decreasing 11 per cent.
However, its print business continued to struggle, with net revenue down five per cent on the same quarter last year, and supplies net revenue down seven per cent to $3.2bn, which alarmed analysts on the call.
Its total print hardware units were down nine per cent, with commercial units down four per cent and consumer kit down 10 per cent.
However, CEO Weisler claimed that it still outperformed the market in an "increasingly challenging" environment, gaining a 44 per cent share of the market.
He added that the weakening of EMEA has contributed to the challenges facing its print business and it expects supplies revenue to struggle for the remainder of the financial year.
"We are making progress on the operational and strategic plans described in prior quarters and remain confident we are taking the right actions," added Weisler.
"However, with the increasing softness in the EMEA market, we expect supplies revenue to remain weak in Q4 as we continue to make progress on our plans, and thus, we expect supplies revenue to decline approximately four per cent to five per cent for the full fiscal year.
"Looking forward, we expect to take significantly more cost out of the business, while also making more financial shifts in our business model across our combined hardware services and supplies profit pools.
"The combination of these operational, market and strategic factors means that we are not planning for supplies revenue to grow in FY20."
Weisler's impending departure and the earnings report caused HP Inc's share price to fall more than six per cent in after-hours trading.