Gulfstream a Memory, Apotheker Hauls His Bag to Tech Startups

Leo Apotheker arrives alone by taxi at Frankfurt’s Villa Kennedy hotel, hidden from the street on a cobblestone lane. Bundled against the cold, he shleps his Rollaboard into the hotel lobby toward a near-empty dining room, where he sits to discuss his new life investing in European tech companies that time passed by. Nobody recognizes him.

A few years ago, Apotheker’s world was brighter. He spent two decades rising through the sales force at business-software provider SAP SE, becoming chief executive officer in 2009. The following year, he was unexpectedly fired from the struggling German company, and a few months later became CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., a job that put him in the heart of Silicon Valley. But it didn’t last: Less than a year in, after a series of lackluster quarters and sudden announcements about strategy that panicked shareholders, HP lost $51 billion of market value and Apotheker was out once again. He was an industry pariah.