Meg Whitman runs to save California
by Patricia Sellers
Former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman today announced plans to run for governor of California, to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger in what’s sure to be a hotly contested 2010 race.
And though it’s rare for Fortune 500 bosses to become the CEO of a state, California’s disastrous financial condition gives Whitman, a political rookie, a clear opportunity to sell herself on management skill and discipline.
If ever California needed that, it is certainly now. The employment picture is terrible: California’s 9.3% unemployment rate is among the highest in the U.S. — and on top of that, the state, to preserve shrinking finances, has begun furloughing its own workers every other Friday. Meanwhile, the budget outlook is dire: Standard & Poor’s last week lowered California’s credit rating to the lowest among all 50 states. Facing a deficit expected to reach $42 billion by mid-2010, Governor Schwarzenegger has been clashing with both Democrats and his fellow Republicans about how to save California from default.
Whitman, 52, a Republican, hadn’t intended to dive into politics after ending her decade-long run at eBay last March. But after getting pulled into last year’s Presidential race — first as finance chair for Mitt Romney, who had once been her boss at Bain & Co., and then as co-chair of John McCain’s failed campaign — she picked up the political bug. In a speech last September to the Commonwealth Club of California, she said she was struck by how much a campaign, intense and fast-paced, “is just like a Silicon Valley start-up.”
Meanwhile, she was fretting about the direction of the state that she moved to in 1998, when eBay (2008 revenues: $8.5 billion) had 30 employees and $4.7 million in revenues. “The question I’m asking myself more and more these days is, if eBay were getting started today, would Silicon Valley and California still be the best place for it?,” she asked in the Commonwealth Club talk. “Is California still the best place for innovation and job creation in America?”
Her implied answer, of course, is No — and Whitman (who, with today’s announcement, is holding off on press interviews) is likely to run on a campaign that is critical of the way Schwarzenegger, who is prevented by term limits from running for a third gubernatorial term, and the legislature have managed the state. The former Terminator has disappointed fellow Republicans who expected him to rein in spending. Whitman, speaking to a group of district attorneys last month, said, “If California were a business, we’d be out of business.”
No question, Whitman — who recently gave up her board seats at Procter & Gamble (PG), DreamWorks Animation (DWA) and eBay — is entering a contest that will test her toughness. First she needs to get past her key GOP rivals, former Congressman Tom Campbell and California insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who sold his company, Snaptrak, for a reported $1 billion to Qualcomm (QCOM) nine years ago. If she cops the Republican nomination, Whitman could face Dianne Feinstein, the popular California senator who has hinted about running ever since she lost a tight governor’s race to Pete Wilson in 1990. Now 75 years old and ever formidable, Feinstein has lofty credentials (she chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee) and a good relationship with California’s business community.
If Feinstein decides that staying in the Senate is safer career-wise (which it surely would be), the Democrats will likely nominate another big name. Among the possibles: California attorney general Jerry Brown, who served as governor from 1975 to 1983, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, or Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, if he chooses to run for governor.
As for another well-known Californian who preceded Whitman as Fortune’s No. 1 Most Powerful Woman in Business, Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), is said to be considering a run for Barbara Boxer’s U.S. Senate seat in 2010.
LOL, Meg & her minions lay off 1500+ of the best & brightest employees (because they get paid more) in an effort to save expenses when eBay is setting on huge cash reserves just to fatten the bottom line for the stockholders … Oh OPPS!! eBays cash reserves cannot be seen, They are somewhere off shore in some mysterious place to avoid taxation .. She cut customer support to fatten the bottom line for the stock holders but yet did nothing to hang onto their real bread & butter, the ones who pay everything on eBay, The sellers .. She treated them like 2nd class citizens and with no respect or dignanty ..
I notice there is no link for feedback on the Uninspired by eBay artical and the falicies there .. I notice many who write or critique about how ebay performs have never bought or sold anything on the site so they have no idea how it really works, they just go by some book learning with no pratical experience ..
Funny how everyone is ripping on Whitman’s lack of experience. She has more experience than our own President. And Ahnold is no Republican, he’s a RINO and the Democratic congress is to blame for the mess we (California) is in. If an inexperienced Democrat runs for office, it’s “change.” When an inexperienced Republican runs for office, comments about her lack of experience are used against them. P.S. The fat and dumpy comments are uncalled for.
Ms.Sellers,
regarding your article titled
“Meg Whitman runs to save California”
??? Oh , Really ???
Looking at her track record ,
“Meg Whitman runs to Destroy California” would be a more appropriate statement in my opinion.
I believe in fairness so OK ,
Let’s hear from some Meg Whitman supporters here that can justify why
and how she can save California by becoming it’s governor.
ARE THERE ANY MEG WHITMAN SUPPORTERS
FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR OUT THERE WILLING TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES?
All I have to say is I pray to GOD we don’t elect another Republican to govern our state!
“CEO of California”
That is one of the most frightening phrases I’ve ever heard.
“…gives Whitman, a political rookie, a clear opportunity to sell herself on management skill and discipline.”
Skill and discipline? Someone has some homework to do. Whitman possesses neither. She’s fat, frumpy and dumpy, displaying zero discipline. And she ruined and ran ebay into the ground, displaying zero skill. If Minney Mouse gets laid off from Disneyland, she could run ebay much better than Whitman did.
If ever California needed that, it is certainly now. The employment picture is terrible: California’s 9.3% unemployment rate is among the highest in the U.S.”
Whitman is still on the ebay board and just a few short months ago ebay LAID OFF THOUSANDS of employees in CALIFORNIA with plans for more, this is helping to repair our present economical situation how?
Job creation? Um, no. Just more corporate greed. More of precisely what we need to rid our government of. I can see the sleazy corporate back room deals now and ebay “exceptions” made to the rules and laws. The laws that currently govern California will no longer apply to ebay and any other greedy corporate “friends” of Whitman’s.
“Whitman… after getting pulled into last year’s Presidential race”
I’m curious, how does one get “pulled” into politics? I seem to remember her going after Mitt and when he failed, she begged to be on McInsane’s campaign. Failure number two.
Are you noticing the pattern yet?
Everything Whitman touches fails. First ebay, then Mitt, then McCain… Next California……..
Meg For governor? When the going got tough see sold her ebay stock for millions and ran. Think taxes are hight in Ca. now? Shes very good at raising fees and proubly taxes if it gets that far.
Steve Poizner is head and shoulders above all the other possible contenders for the job, including Ms. Whitman. Ms. Whitman’s performance at the Republican convention last year was disappointing to say the least. Poizner’s resume is as diverse and relevant as any candidate and he has the intelligence, vision and leadership skills needed at a critical time in the state’s history. I am a lifelong Democrat but there is no doubt in my mind Poizner is the guy for the job.
that would be the Obummer /demorat depression since that is who leading us there!
If Meg runs Calfornia the way she ran eBay, she’ll solve the state’s issues by chasing everyone away like she did at eBay.
I’m sure the details will come out when she actually runs, but IMO her tenure at eBay can be divided into two parts. 1) when the basic business model, which was NOT Meg’s idea, was working well and growth was meteoric. During this phase, Meg simply rode the wave to great wealth and magazine cover fame. Issues were easy to ignore and broom under the caret because the growth hid them. And 2) when bumps in the road began to appear and Meg’s lack of leadership had the company drifting in a directionless manner. Billions of dollars were thrown away due to poor acquisitions (like Skype), her failed personal leadership when eBay tried to compete in China, billions spent buying back stock with little investment in the core business, and appointment of even an even more incompetent replacement at the healm of the company.
She seems to like to take credit for stage 1 and ignore the past four years.
So another Republican announces that she can cure the financial crisis, based upon her resume. Her announcement includes NO solutions, other than her resume to cure the financial problems of the state. She is just another Wall Street robber baron that wants to lead the lemmings over the cliff into the Republican-Bush depression.
Governor of “CALIFORNIA”? I fear you misspelled “Catatonia.”
No thanks, we don’t need another Republican idiot running the state, we allready have one. This is a person who co-chaired McLames campaign, what does that tell you about her judgement?
Meg ran Ebay in the ground and she will do the same with California.
Patricia Sellers, are you on Meg’s payroll?
“Meg Whitman runs to SAVE California?” You aren’t Henry Gomez in drag, are you?
Gee, isn’t the uneployment situation bad BECAUSE of CEOs who love to lay off employees and offshore jobs?
Whitman and Fiorina don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hades, especially Fiorina, who fired 10’s of thousands of employees.
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Patricia Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Can Meg Whitman Save California?", Melinda Gates ("The $100 Billion Woman"), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). And she has broken ground with insightful pieces on career management issues such as ego ("Get Over Yourself!"), and "Charisma: Do You Need It? Can You Get It?" Pattie chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. And she has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women in Business" cover package since its launch in 1998. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big consumer brand companies.
The funny thing is that the problem is not that we have a Republican Governor now, but that things are so bad not even a Republican can save California from the Democratic Special Interest Pandering Crooks we let control our budget. The unions buy our elections plain and simple. The only thing that can help us now is a new constitution or the break up of our state into several smaller pieces. I am a fifth generation Californian looking for a new home in Albuquerque.