HP’s Whitman Focuses on Hardware, While Lane Leads Software

Hewlett-Packard Co. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, who scrapped a proposal to spin off the company’s personal-computer unit today, says she has split up operational duties with Executive Chairman Ray Lane.

While Whitman has taken charge of computer hardware and corporate functions, Lane is focused on software and technology services, she said in an interview. That lets the executives “cover more ground,” Whitman said. Lane, a partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, is spending 30 percent of his time working on Hewlett-Packard business, she said.