Exclusive: HP EVP Todd Bradley looking to jump ship for CEO role elsewhere

Business

BGR has exclusively learned that Hewlett-Packard Executive Vice President Todd Bradley is looking to leave HP. While HP reported last week that the company plans to discontinue its webOS smartphones and tablets and is interested in splitting off the PC business, we have heard that Todd Bradley has been considering a departure from HP for several months. “He’s out interviewing for every CEO job he can,” a source familiar with Bradley’s plans told us. With the drastic change in direction for HP, it’s not surprising to see that the leading internal choice for the CEO role, passed over for an outsider, is looking to leave the company. After all, it was Bradley who spearheaded the Palm acquisition and he has been very focused on turning HP into more of a consumer company, something that is now essentially out of the question. Read on for more.

Bradley is well respected in tech circles, though we have been told that one of the reasons he hasn’t exited HP yet is due to his personal demands from potential new companies, which are said to be somewhat excessive. We have also been told that Bradley is working on an incredibly large deal, however — possibly even larger than the recently announced purchase of Autonomy Corp. This could be Bradley’s last stand, so to speak, before he leaves the company. HP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

37 Comments
  • *Exclusive*

    Exclusive: everything BGR writes is an exclusive.

    • Charles Clout

      Exclusive:

      *Exclusive* writes “Exclusive: everything BGR writes is an exclusive.”

      • http://lovegenius.tumblr.com Johnson Tran

        Exclusive: *Exclusive* sues Charles Clout for leaking Exclusive: *Exclusive* writes “Exclusive: everything BGR writes is an exclusive.”

        Okay, we’re done here.

    • http://twitter.com/GRZLA Grizzly Atoms

      THIS JUST IN, THEY ARE PUTTING PARTS IN IPHONE 5′S!!!!!

      • Anonymous

        I WONT believe until I see 4 analyst backed articles to go with it!

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VWQKVM377B6HWYVWLFKZP7IAOE Wallace Hunt

      I got an iPad 2-32GB for $ 23.87 and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 657 which only cost me $ 62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from,http://x.co/ZBpb

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_VWQKVM377B6HWYVWLFKZP7IAOE Wallace Hunt

      I got an iPad 2-32GB for $ 23.87 and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 657 which only cost me $ 62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from,http://x.co/ZBpb

  • Anonymous

    I know it’s cliche, but: I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t blame him. Bradley should have been CEO instead of Apotheker anyway.

  • Wesbenterprise

    With a track record that includes buying Palm for $1+ billion I don’t think he will have any trouble finding work.

  • Anonymous

    I suppose his “last stand” can’t be too much bigger than the Autonomy deal if HP spend almost all its cash on that deal.

  • http://www.twitter.com/slinky317 slinky317

    This just in: Guy working at company wants a higher position with more pay.  News at 11.

  • http://twitter.com/EatinBeaver Wood Yee

    Who cares?

    • Fenfen

      The market. That’s who.

  • Anonymous

    Walmart greeter?

  • Anonymous

    I just p a i d $21.87 for BlackBerry Bold 9930 and my girlfriend loves his Panasonîc Lumîx GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS.I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $657 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from,, GrabPennу.com

    • http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/ BoyRetardedReport

      “and my girlfriend loves his Panasonîc Lumîx GF 1 Camera…”

      Your girlfriend loves HIS?

      Wtf?

  • ExPalmFan

    If he was responsible for the roll in of Palm he should have been sacked. What a joke.

    • lupos

      @915908d8915d93bd02239d044df76b18:disqus You can’t blame him for the webos failure so far. He thought it was a good idea to be more like apple (own the whole process, software-hardware), then Apotheker shows up and decides to turn HP into IBM/Google instead. Complete opposite of his vision. 

      • Carlos

        Purchasing Palm was not the problem … the crappy execution under Apotheker is the problem.

      • Anonymous

        Lack of stamina under Apotheker too.

      • Carlos

        Yeah your right.  Apotheker couldn’t mess things up this bad by himself.  There’s alot of blame to go around to all the executive and management team.

  • SheriffBart

    A BGR “exclusive”.  That’s enough for a week’s worth of laughs. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504970952 Matt Holland

    I’m looking for a new job too. To whom at BGR should I send my headshot to?

  • http://twitter.com/#!/PitoVH787 Pito V.H

    yes he suck….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Pishabh-Badmaash/100000345226234 Pishabh Badmaash

    I heard from the guy who runs the taco truck that parks across the street from HP’s offices that people are updating their linkedin details.  I’m looking to confirm this from a second source

  • http://profiles.google.com/frank.malloy Frank Malloy

    Hmmm. This guy contributes to WebOS devices being one big fat failure despite the OSs uniqueness and technical excellence, and now he wants to be a CEO? And we should hire you because…?

    Never fails to amaze – executives that fail miserably and publicly in their jobs, yet seem to have no trouble being hired on to help ruin another company. I don’t get it…

    If you or I screwed up this big, it would be hard to recover.

    Goes to show you about executive positions – it’s all about politics…

    • Carlos

      First of all you can’t blame this guy for the failure of the palm acquisition.  HP purchased palm in April 2010.  This guy had his name in the running for ceo, hp was looking to get in to go mobile business and become more consumer oriented.

      But then around august the HP board decides to bring in an outsider, Apotheker to become ceo.  Apotheker was the former ceo of SAP.  He’s an enterprise software guy, not a hardware or consumer products/services guy.

      We can see now that Apotheker was never fully committed to the mobile space or hardware.  The fact that he and the board decided to exit the hardware business and he didn’t tell his vp, or the web os managers about the decision until the night before the press conference speaks volumes.  Hell, the webos team found out just like we did from the press conference.

      This guy might have helped broker the Palm deal before Apotheker got there, but once Apotheker was named ceo, Apotheker was the guy leading the company and the person with the final say on decision.  Apotheker is the person to blame for webos’s failure.

      On the flip side, hp’s enterprise software business looks promising.  Looks like Apotheker is just sticking to what he knows and where he’s comfortable.

      • Anonymous

        If Bradley had taken the webOS software and added some truly amazing hardware to run it on and those products came out the door like gangbusters and tore up the market, Apotheker wouldn’t have made the decision he did.  Miniscule margins on computer sales and a big fail on mobile devices is what forced Apotheker to put HP Personal Systems Group out on the street.

  • Applesucksfatties

    Maybe he can take over for Steve Jobs and run Apple into the ground.   

  • Anonymous

    HP needs to stop hiring MBAs and get guys that actually know about technology.

    • Anonymous

      that was Hurd, who couldn’t keep it in his pants.

    • Mainman58

      He doesn’t have an MBA, just a BS.

  • Anonymous

    Amazing, no loyalty whatsoever in Silicon Valley now is there?
    http://www.web-anon.at.tc

  • Anonymous

    First he tanks with Palm in the early 2000s, then he tanks with HP’s Windows Mobile phones, then he purchases Palm outright and tanks again.  How many strikes is this guy gonna get before some company just puts him in the stock room where he can do less damage?  Hopefully Bradley is finished with the mobile market – I can safely say the mobile market is sure done with him.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B4OGBROXQZNX5C4XDTX6ICYMXQ Gilda Cameron

    I just paíd $22.85 for an íPad 2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her her Panasoníc Lumíx GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.78 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $625 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentHûb.côm

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Paddy-Arvind-Sudhaker-Shenoy/541066422 Paddy Arvind Sudhaker Shenoy

    COool !

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