Will Carly Fiorina鈥檚 surge be undermined by her HP record?
Carly Fiorina is doing well in polls. As Donald Trump saw his support drastically diminish following the second GOP debate, the businesswoman swiftly rose to No. 2 with of Republican support.
But critics are skeptical that her success will persist. The reason? Her dismal tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005, during which 30,000 employees were laid off. 聽
In 2010, Mrs. Fiorina ran for Senate in California, against Democratic incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer. Leading up to the election, Fiorina was performing promisingly. Most polls showed she was within one or two points of Boxer, and even indicated she was ahead.
Then came the attack ads.
鈥淔iorina outsourced jobs to China. And while Californians lost their jobs, Fiorina tripled her salary, bought a million-dollar yacht, and five corporate jets,鈥� the narrator in an ad released in mid-September of 2010 says of Fiorina鈥檚 legacy as CEO of the Fortune 500 tech company. Audio then cuts to a soundbite of Fiorina from a previous interview. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud of what I did at HP,鈥� she says.
Fiorina lost the race by 10 points. Now as she surges in the 2016 presidential election, her corporate performance is once again the subject of scrutiny.
In an essay published on Medium Tuesday, her Deputy Campaign Manager Sarah Isgur Flores that defend Fiorina鈥檚 record as HP鈥檚 CEO. Among them were the claim that 鈥淐arly saved 80,000 jobs and HP grew to 150,000 jobs by 2005鈥� and 鈥淐arly doubled revenues to more than $80 billion, tripled innovation, quadrupled cash flow and more than quadrupled the growth rate. HP went from a Fortune 28 to a Fortune 11 company.鈥�
And yet, in 2009, Fiorina was named the of all time by Portfolio (now Upstart Business Journal).
鈥淢rs. Fiorina tries to obscure these harsh realities with a blizzard of her own 鈥榝acts,鈥欌�� writes New York Times columnist Steven Rattner in an op-ed. 鈥淥n the campaign trail, for example, she speaks of having doubled her company鈥檚 revenues. However, most of that increase came from adding in Compaq鈥檚 sales, which is a misleading way to calculate revenue growth.鈥�
In regards to her added jobs, the Los Angeles Times in 2010 that it was likely Fiorani created jobs overseas instead of adding jobs in the U.S.
But Fiorina isn鈥檛 without defenders in the industry.
"The stock took a beating, but she was absolutely correct," venture capitalist Tom Perkins told the LA Times in 2010. He had been a member of the HP board that fired her. "The merger was a brilliant move. Look where HP is now 鈥� the biggest computer company in the world."
Fiorina鈥檚 leadership at HP was the peak of her corporate career. Since she was fired, she has not run another publicly traded company. Despite that it鈥檚 the only substantial executive experience she can present to her voters, it the highlight of her campaign speeches. In fact, she rarely brings it up.聽
笔别谤丑补辫蝉,听, this is because the facts simply speak for themselves.
