I used to work there. I was on the team with the guy who designed the CPQ VPN solution... and I worked next to the person who helped implement the Blackberry 1.0 solution, along with the online Faxing solution, etc. Guess what, they were laid off or their projects were cut due to budget changes YEARS ago. I also know the guy who handled all of the subnetting/DNS infrastructure. He was cut as well and sure enough DNS stopped working for a full day company wide. How much did that cost the company versus his salary???
When I threw in the towel is when they asked me to turn in my pager. I refused and offered to pay the bill myself because in the end, if my services weren't available, it was still my ass on the line whether or not I had a $10/month pager or NOT! The next round of cuts I was given a package.
And that's coming from somebody who was a CPQ person. Most of the CPQ managers I knew voted for the merger simply because they felt the merger was "too big to resist". The only people that it was good for were Capellas and Fiorna. They did it to "streamline processes" and employ "scales of economy". GIVE ME A BREAK! They also said they're selling all of the land across from the former CPQ headquarters to "streamline processes" too. Let's call a spade a spade. It's for the MONEY. Somebody is getting paid and that's the ONLY reason it's happening. They (Capellas & Fiorina) paid themselves a $14m-16m CASH BONUS, as a pat on the back, for making the merger happen. That right there is complete BS! If you're a CEO and you want "cash" because you're too scared of stock options, then what equity do you have to make the company great?? NOTHING!!!
Pfieffer was kicked out of CPQ and Capellas came in and at the same time Capellas was named CEO, Ben Rosen stepped down as CoB for the BoD. I knew right then and there that things were about to change drastically. Ben was one of the original investors in CPQ, and for him to sign in a new CEO and split at the same time means he gave up on CPQ. Capellas was there long enough to put a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, strike a cash deal with somebody and then split. Fiornia saw it as a change to make herself even richer, because after all, the prize is BEING a CEO. She continued to pay herself cash bonuses while laying off THOUSANDS of employees to meet the companies financial objectives. If that's the "HP WAY" you can take it back to California and toss it in the Pacific for all I care. She continued by buying a couple of new Gulfstream jets because "it would make the company more competitive". Custom built Gulfstreams aren't cheap so she had to lay off a few more thousand employees to pay for them. Why she couldn't LEASE them like any other rational CEO is beyond me, but I'm not/was not in charge. Each quarter she provided herself with a cash bonus (in the millions, $1m-$4m typically) and continued to lay off people. Talk about GREED! She should have been paying herself in options that whole time. If the company went into the ground, atleast I know she'd go with it and have some stake in it. Now she's gone with an ADDITIONAL $21m IN CASH just for saying "Buh Bye HP". She RAPED HP, she RAPED CPQ, and she's got her MILLIONS of dollars. Do you think she cares that HP is in the ditch?
The next CEO is there to do damage control. He, or she, will most likely part the company out, sell of the bad, and keep the good.
What's a shame is that in the process several good people lost what used to be good jobs with a good company....former CPQ'er that was cut during one of Carly's shopping spree's...
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When I threw in the towel is when they asked me to turn in my pager. I refused and offered to pay the bill myself because in the end, if my services weren't available, it was still my ass on the line whether or not I had a $10/month pager or NOT! The next round of cuts I was given a package.
And that's coming from somebody who was a CPQ person. Most of the CPQ managers I knew voted for the merger simply because they felt the merger was "too big to resist". The only people that it was good for were Capellas and Fiorna. They did it to "streamline processes" and employ "scales of economy". GIVE ME A BREAK! They also said they're selling all of the land across from the former CPQ headquarters to "streamline processes" too. Let's call a spade a spade. It's for the MONEY. Somebody is getting paid and that's the ONLY reason it's happening. They (Capellas & Fiorina) paid themselves a $14m-16m CASH BONUS, as a pat on the back, for making the merger happen. That right there is complete BS! If you're a CEO and you want "cash" because you're too scared of stock options, then what equity do you have to make the company great?? NOTHING!!! Pfieffer was kicked out of CPQ and Capellas came in and at the same time Capellas was named CEO, Ben Rosen stepped down as CoB for the BoD. I knew right then and there that things were about to change drastically. Ben was one of the original investors in CPQ, and for him to sign in a new CEO and split at the same time means he gave up on CPQ. Capellas was there long enough to put a "For Sale" sign in the front yard, strike a cash deal with somebody and then split. Fiornia saw it as a change to make herself even richer, because after all, the prize is BEING a CEO. She continued to pay herself cash bonuses while laying off THOUSANDS of employees to meet the companies financial objectives. If that's the "HP WAY" you can take it back to California and toss it in the Pacific for all I care. She continued by buying a couple of new Gulfstream jets because "it would make the company more competitive". Custom built Gulfstreams aren't cheap so she had to lay off a few more thousand employees to pay for them. Why she couldn't LEASE them like any other rational CEO is beyond me, but I'm not/was not in charge. Each quarter she provided herself with a cash bonus (in the millions, $1m-$4m typically) and continued to lay off people. Talk about GREED! She should have been paying herself in options that whole time. If the company went into the ground, atleast I know she'd go with it and have some stake in it. Now she's gone with an ADDITIONAL $21m IN CASH just for saying "Buh Bye HP". She RAPED HP, she RAPED CPQ, and she's got her MILLIONS of dollars. Do you think she cares that HP is in the ditch? The next CEO is there to do damage control. He, or she, will most likely part the company out, sell of the bad, and keep the good. What's a shame is that in the process several good people lost what used to be good jobs with a good company. ...former CPQ'er that was cut during one of Carly's shopping spree's...