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HP`s Dunn Stepping Down at start of `07

Hewlett-Packard`s (HP) beleaguered chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, will reportedly step down from her post in January next year, the company said earlier this week. Ms. Dunn will be replaced by Mark Hurd, an HP executive. Hurd will retain his existing positions as chief executive and president, while Dunn will remain as a director within the company structure. Dunn on Tuesday apologized for the "inappropriate techniques" deployed to obtain phone records, a practice known as "pretexting."

The pressure on Dunn to step down escalated this past Monday after federal investigators investigating a controversy asked the company to provide information on the methods used by HP to spy on some of its own directors. Annoyed with media leaks, in her capacity as chairwoman Patricia Dunn commissioned an outside firm to identify the sources of leaks from the company. "These leaks had the potential to affect not only the stock price of HP but also that of other publicly traded companies," Dunn said.

In Washington, the Energy and Commerce Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives gave HP a week to name the private firm Dunn hired to investigate leaks to the media, and to turn over all "records and information related to the company`s reported effort to obtain private phone records." Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney General`s office issued a statement about "investigating the processes employed in an investigation into possible sources of (HP) leaks."