HP shares drop after ?idiotic? appointment

Hewlett-Packard’s new chief executive Leo Apotheker is already facing a rocky start to his tenure, as his appointment has caused share values to drop.

According to Business Insider, the drop in share price has already wiped out $4.45 billion in shareholder value. Meanwhile, Fortune spoke to several investors who described the appointment as “idiotic” and “astonishing.”

Speculation as to causes of the share price fall, include the fact that Apotheker’s previous role at SAP only lasted for seven months, and that his experience is in enterprise software, not consumer and business hardware.