Little more than a week before HP announced its final tally of fiscal year results, the company brought another part of its 2002 to a close by bidding its president Michael Capellas farewell. The former CEO of Compaq left HP on Nov. 11 in an announcement timed for a slow business day, but even the US Veteran’s Day torpor of the stock market couldn’t keep HP shares from sliding more than 10 percent on the news. Investors sold off shares thinking that the company needs the operational expertise that Capellas was supposed to bring to the now much larger HP. Starting immediately, all the HP executives who were reporting to Capellas will report to HP CEO Carly Fiorina. In a statement from HP’s PR corps, Fiorina said that “Michael and I have been friends and peers since long before the merger. I fully support this decision and appreciate the dedication and passion he brought to our joint endeavor. On behalf of the board, management team and employees, I want to thank Michael for his many contributions to HP.”

HP showed its thanks in a rousing style by contributing $14.4 million to Capellas in a resignation package. The Associated Press reported that Capellas wouldn’t have qualified for the exit bonus if he’d stayed at the new HP for more than a year. This level of executive compensation was among the concerns that former board member Walter Hewlett aired during this spring’s fractious merger battle. Now Capellas is just as gone as Hewlett from the HP board. Analysts commented that it was only a matter of time before the former Compaq CEO left for his own company, opinions that were not heard while Fiorina and Capellas trumpeted the virtues of the merger. The statement from HP included a comment from Fiorina that “Michael made a commitment to see the merger through, and now thanks to the hard work of the entire team, we are meeting or exceeding all of our integration targets.” HP’s layoffs are continuing as the company works toward its goal of eliminating 16,800 positions. One very expensive post is being wiped off the books, perhaps worth more than some entire HP operations. The post of president of HP is being eliminated, according to HP’s statement on Capellas’ departure.

As the 48-year-old Capellas left HP with the richest exit package in the company’s history, and the shortest tenure as president, he had fond words for his 14-month association with the company. “I’m comfortable making this move because of the progress of the integration,” he said, “HP’s market momentum, and the strength of the management team. I have tremendous respect for Carly and her leadership. I could not be more proud of our accomplishments and I have every confidence in the future success of the company.” Capellas may need some confidence himself, if rumors of his next job turn out to be accurate. Business analysts said he was the front-runner for the CEO post at WorldCom, a company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, is seizing property of a company official who wrote himself multi-million dollar loan — and faces fraud charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as several shareholder lawsuits and US Congressional investigations.