Posted on 09/17/2015 3:49:52 AM PDT by RC one
A comparison of the tenures is a battle of bad vs. worse.
It’s well known by now that GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina has never held political office and is running on her business record. As many commentators have pointed out, that’s a dicey proposition since her highest-profile job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 was sort of a disaster.
But in an interview with Fortune contributor and Yale School of Management professor Jeffery Sonnenfeld, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump—who has made a habit of criticizing Fiorina—took aim at a different stage of her career.
When asked about what he thought of Fiorina’s failure to secure another CEO job following her departure from HP, Trump said her time off from private-sector leadership “is not a positive,” before he switched gears to blast her lesser-known tenure in charge of the largest division at telecom firm Lucent Technologies.
“You know, if you look at what happened at Lucent under her tenure it was not a good picture. I think it may have been worse than Hewlett-Packard,” Trump said. He reiterated that point in Wednesday night’s Republican debate on CNN.
That’s quite a statement considering the criticism Fiorina has received about her record at HP. On her campaign website, Fiorina trumpets her leadership at HP, stating that on her watch, the company “doubled revenues; more than quadrupled its growth rate; tripled the rate of innovation, with 11 patents a day.” Those figures gloss over some not-so-nice aspects of her stint as CEO.
HP’s revenues did indeed double, but that was due in large part to Fiorina’s 2001 decision to merge with rival Compaq—a deal aimed at making HP the dominant maker of personal computers that occurred right as PCs were starting their long decline. HP announced the spinoff of its PC business in 2014, a final indication that Fiorina’s gamble hadn’t paid off. Fiorina was also responsible for cutting the jobs of more than 30,000 HP workers while CEO prior to being unceremoniously fired from the position in 2005. Fiorina has defended her record as HP CEO by saying that her tenure there coincided with a “difficult time” for the technology industry, and that leading the company during that tenure there coincided with a “difficult time” for the technology industry, and that leading the company during that period required making “some tough calls.”
Fiorina’s time at the helm of HP has been well scrutinized. Less is known about her stint at Lucent. But Fiorina’s failed bid for a California Senate seat in 2010 prompted Fortune to give her time at Lucent a close look.
On the surface, Lucent performed well while Fironia worked there, with revenues, profits, and the company’s stock price surging. The company even added 22,000 jobs. But dig deeper and “the story grows more complicated and less flattering,” as Fortune reported. Fiorina landed at Lucent when her previous employer, AT&T, spun it off so the equipment maker could sell gear to AT&T competitors. The timing was auspicious since companies like Worldcom, Qwest, and Global Crossing were in the process of laying fiber optic cables around the country and the world. Lucent’s sales to service provider networks—which Fiorina oversaw—grew from $15.7 billion in fiscal 1997 to $19.1 billion in 1998. In 1999, they hit $23.6 billion and Fiorina landed at the top of Fortune‘s first list of the country’s most powerful women in business.
But the equipment companies’ rapid expansion was too good to be true. Fortune’s 2010 story explains:
“As Wall Street became fixated on equipment companies’ growth, the whole industry entered a manic phase. With capital easy to come by, Qwest, Worldcom and their peers laid more fiber and installed far more capacity than customers needed. Much like the housing bubble that was just beginning to inflate, easy credit fed the telecom bubble.
Lucent and its major competitors all started goosing sales by lending money to their customers. In a neat bit of accounting magic, money from the loans began to appear on Lucent’s income statement as new revenue while the dicey debt got stashed on its balance sheet as an allegedly solid asset. It was nothing of the sort. Lucent said in its SEC filings that it had little choice to play the so-called vendor financing game, because all its competitors were too.
Fiorina says in her autobiography that she pushed back against the pressure for short-term growth at any cost, and two former Lucent collegues with whom she remains friendly back her up. On the other hand, this 2001 Fortune story, which described Lucent’s irresponsible growth habits, cites sources saying Fiorina made it known that Wall Street would generously reward companies that emphasized and delivered robust revenue growth.And an executive who sat across the table from Fiorina in a big vendor financing negotiation, when asked this week about what he remembers of the bargaining, described Fiorina as being dead set on chalking up a huge sale. He adds: “The press release was always very important to her.”
Whatever the exact extent of Fiorina’s role, Lucent was soon sucked in deep, making big loans to sketchy customers. In an SEC document filed just after Fiorina’s departure, the company revealed that it had $7 billion in loan commitments to customers — many of them financially unstable start-ups building all manner of new networks — of which Lucent had dispensed $1.6 billion.
Such vendor financing deals, Fortune explained, would have a similar impact on the telecom industry that sub-prime mortgages eventually had on housing: public companies extended loans to customers who were betting that the good times would continue while those same loans helped inflate lenders’ short-term financial results and stock prices. (Fiorina’s campaign at the time of the 2010 article said comparisons of the vendor financing deals Fiorina worked on to subprime lending were “disingenuous” and “almost libelous.”) The vendor financing deals met the same fate as sub-prime mortgages: the market turned and the debt collapsed. By the time the fallout finally hit Lucent—its shares eventually crashed to less than $1, and in 2006 it merged with Alcatel—Fiorina had moved on to HP.
Fiorina’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment on this story.
Comparing Fiorina’s tenure at HP to her time at Lucent is a toss-up of bad vs. worse. In the end, neither is a shining example of her executive leadership, and Trump certainly won’t be her only opponent to use them as a point of attack. Yet her improving poll numbers, which earned her a spot in CNN’s primetime Republican debate Wednesday night, suggest that voters—at least for the time being—are looking past her resume blemishes or simply cheering for her as the comeback candidate.
Carly, previously unknown sister of Iris.
Different gates. One is the inner court and the other the outer gate. Then it makes sense.
When half of your sector is going out of business, slimming down the business, re-positioning it in the market, and surviving is a success.
Blaming Fiorina for layoffs during the Tech Bust is like blaming FDR for dead soldiers in the years 1942-45. If she had tried to preserve every job, they would have probably lost them all.
All right then, calc it out yourself and use whatever deflator you think is appropriate. Either way he didn’t out perform a broad market index. That index is the normal way to judge if a money manager is good or bad. If they hit past it, then they’re good. If they don’t, then they’re not.
Soros, Koch and Buffet hit past it. Romney and Trump don’t. Both Romney and Trump told us they’re great businessmen hire us to run the country.
No thanks.
Ezekiel 46:1 isn’t detailing ‘different gates’..
it is the same ‘gate of the inner court that faces east’
That gate is to be shut the 6 Work Days(1-6). But on the Sabbath Day (7th) it shall be opened.. AND on the day of the New Moon (8)
Ezekiel 46:1 is clear. That is 8 days..if it said 5 Work Days, it would be a total of 7.
With study, one can see why He said it the way He did. The answer is back in Genesis. And in a place like Revelation 12..and Daniel 7:25.
But again, it takes people who can count like He counts..
And you yourself said people are innumerate.
When people count like He does,lots of stuff starts to make more sense.
And why nobody on that panel is qualified to rule and reign in His Kingdom.
They are certainly qualified to rule and reign in this counterfeit world though
Trump blames Carly. Why not blame overseas competition on her failures? Why are you making excuses for Trump?
Why give Trump the pass he won’t afford to others? Hypocrisy is par for the course when it comes to Trump.
Other candidates must run against their records. Trump gets to run against Trump’s promises. Nice try.
Nonsense
The tech market dropped somewhere around 25%, while HP, under Carly's leadership, tanked 50%. THAT is something she should be held accountable for, not the market overall, but how HP did compared to the rest of the market.
If she had tried to save every job, perhaps they would have lost them all. Same thing if HP had tried to save Carly, rather than sending her packing a few years in. Meanwhile, she's out there claiming everything was great.You apparently bought it.
Your post makes no sense whatsoever.
Trump’s failures - caused by market conditions.
Fiorina’s failures - caused by Fiorina or market conditions?
Trump supporters cannot see his faults, but the faults of others are bright in their eyes. Kind of like hero worshippers.
Can you see the hypocrisy now?
No.
Carly has ZERO accomplishments.
Trump, about 10 billion of ‘em.
You’re a true believer, FRiend. Some FReepers, you just can’t reach.
The tech market dropped somewhere around 25%, while HP, under Carly's leadership, tanked 50%. THAT is something she should be held accountable for, not the market overall, but how HP did compared to the rest of the market.
The NASDAQ went from 5000 to 1200. That is a 76% loss. There was only 25% left after the fall, so I can see where you made your mistake...
The stock price is complicated because of the Compaq merger, but if your 50% loss figure is taken at face value, HP significantly outperformed the NASDAQ.
I’d prefer that your imbecility not reach me anymore.
They can’t have someone win that might deport the illegals, build the wall, and test the liberal interpretation of the 14th amendment. Basically, it’s anybody but Trump for the GOPe.
“At best he’s worth $3 billion so that’s a negative $5 billion growth rate.”
Only an idiot would call growing something a “negative”. You are using terms improperly just to try to lampoon Trump. What a liberal.
I’d take Cruz in a heartbeat over Trump.
For what its worth. In the end I think the last 2 standing will be Ted & Donald. Ted is the one who Trump listens to when he’s talking.
He didn’t manage his daddy’s inheritance very well. That’s the point. Cutting and pasting my comments out of context is a lie, but you knew that.
I won’t ever stoop again.
You should leave FR and go elsewhere. Get around people who will be impressed by your great judgment and intellect.
Apparently, you are even better than the whole population.
Get over yourself
Walker and to a great extent Rick Perry are Do’ers, but on a debate stage that ability doesn’t shine through.
The formats just don’t allow for here’s my record, and the challenges I have overcome coupled with how I would tackle the countries issues.
The immigration policy statement by Trump never saw the light of day in the debate, as will his second one on the second amendment. The MSM wants Jerry Springer like action.
Therefore these have become free for all take down the opponent.
Carly has rehearsed the bullet point technique of answering which in the end comes through but once that gets some real definition will be subject to much scrutiny.
e.g. Why would you not talk to Putin. He needs to know the US is one to be respected, and yes feared.
Carson also saw a surge because he kept it simple and non combative, while at the same time not showing a lot of detail.
The agenda is set by the MSM , and the GOPe are happy to let them play it out
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