Hewlett-Packard Directors Are All Re-Elected at Investor Meeting

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), holding its annual shareholder meeting, said all of its directors were re- elected and Ernst & Young LLP was appointed as auditor after an investor vote.

Ernst & Young was ratified as outside auditor with 85 percent of the vote, and the company’s executive pay plan also passed, gaining 75 percent approval, Hewlett-Packard said at the meeting today in Mountain View, California.

Shareholder advisers had recommended that investors vote against Chairman Ray Lane and some other members of the 11- person board. Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass Lewis & Co. faulted the panel for an $8.8 billion writedown of acquired software company Autonomy Corp. because of “serious accounting improprieties,” and for depleting the stock’s value through years of mismanagement.

“Certainly the last three or four years have been tough,” Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman said at today’s meeting. “My view on the board of directors is they are helping turn Hewlett-Packard around.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Ricadela in San Francisco at aricadela@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net