One Huge Investor Is Happy That Two HP Board Members Are Gone

After months of battle with shareholders, two of HP's board members have resigned and Ray Lane has stepped down from the chairman job but will stay on as a director.

The resignations of John Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson were not a surprise.

Angry investors were calling for their heads at HP's annual shareholder meeting last month. They barely got enough votes to keep their jobs then.

Shareholders were upset over more than $16 billion dollars worth of write-downs, plus the discovery of $5 billion worth of alleged fraud on Autonomy's books after the company paid $11 billion to acquire it.

After hearing the news today, New York City Comptroller John Liu issued a public "Hallelujah."

Liu was one of the investors who voted against Hammergren and Thompson. He sent this statement to Business Insider:

“HP’s board got the message,” Comptroller Liu said. “It has removed the two directors most responsible for a series of value-destroying oversight failures, and established fresh, independent leadership. This a good day for HP, its board, and its shareowners.”