Apotheker right hand man Wohl exits HP

HP's short lived chief communication officer Bill Wohl - a close ally of blundering former CEO Leo Apotheker - has confirmed that he has followed his buddy out of the business.

The man, who was on hand to advise Leo on the masterful handling of the PSG saga, and the TouchPad and WebOS announcement in August, revealed on Twitter this week that he is offski.

"I've left HP and am now pursing new opportunities. I'm home in Pennsylvania and taking some deserved time off," he confirmed on the social networking forum.

Wohl was instated as CCO - a newly created title at HP - in January following the resignation of Michael Mendenhall. Previously, Wohl mastered communications at SAP where Apotheker spent twenty years, with the last nine months as CEO before being pushed out by management.

Apotheker scored a number of own goals during his relatively short reign at HP and Wohl provided little polish to put a shine on his ill-judged comments, which collapsed the share price by fifth. In August, Wohl was given a special assignment, rumoured to be related to positioning HP as a software biz.

The fact that he has followed Apotheker out of the door, albeit under his own volition is not surprising.

HP corporate comms unit in the US confirmed that Wohl has left and that Lynn Anderson is acting CCO reporting directly to CEO Meg Whitman. But the vendor refused to comment further. ®