HP Inc. shares were getting a lift on Wednesday after the company announced its new chief executive: Emma Walmsley, the former head of pharmaceutical company GSK.
HP shares were rising more than 6% in morning trading with investors seemingly approving of the choice despite Walmsley's lack of experience running a technology business. Before joining GSK, Walmsley was an executive at consumer goods giant L'Oréal. However, she has been a member of Microsoft's board of directors for seven years.
Walmsley, who led drugmaker GSK from early 2017 until the end of 2025, will join the company on Jan. 4. She replaces Bruce Broussard who has been HP's interim CEO since February, when former chief Enrique Lores left to join PayPal. Broussard will become chairman on the same date, succeeding Chip Bergh.
"Emma is a proven CEO with a record of leading organizations at scale and guiding them through significant change. She has the experience and skills to bring HP's businesses, capabilities and people together to capture the opportunities ahead as AI moves to the edge, transforming how we work and live in a more connected world," Broussard said in a statement.
The appointment comes as soaring memory-chip costs have pressured sales of personal computers and laptops. HP said in September that industrywide volumes were set to decline by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2027 compared with 2026, although it didn't issue its own guidance.
Walmsley's history of major restructuring at GSK -- where she led the spinoff of its consumer-health brands -- is likely to raise questions about whether she will pursue similar moves at HP.
"This is a portfolio CEO, not a product CEO. Walmsley refocused GSK on specialty medicines and vaccines and split off consumer health. Do we see a hard look at print?," Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Patrick Moorhead wrote.
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