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HP CEO forced to resign amid harassment claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard Co. has ousted its CEO for allegedly falsifying documents to conceal a relationship with a former contractor and help her get paid for work she didn’t do.

News of Mark Hurd’s abrupt departure Friday sent HP’s stock tumbling. Shares of the world’s biggest maker of personal computers and printers have doubled in value during his five-year stewardship, and HP became the world’s No. 1 technology company by revenue in that time.

The company said it learned about the relationship several weeks ago, when the woman, who did marketing work for HP, sent a letter accusing Hurd, 53, and the company of sexual harassment. An investigation found that Hurd falsified expense reports and other financial documents to conceal the relationship. The company said it found that its sexual harassment policy wasn’t violated but that its standards of business conduct were.

Hurd’s ‘systematic pattern’ of submitting falsified financial reports to hide the relationship convinced the board that ‘it would be impossible for him to be an effective leader moving forward and that he had to step down,’ HP general counsel Michael Holston said on a conference call Friday with analysts.

‘The facts that drove the decision for the company had to with integrity, had to do with credibility, had to do with honesty,’ Holston said, declining to elaborate.

Holston said the inaccurate financial reports related only to Hurd’s personal expenses.