Hewlett-Packard has named former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman as its president and CEO, replacing the harshly criticized Leo Apotheker in a bid to restore investor confidence in the US technology company.

The decision was made without a formal CEO search and piled renewed criticism on the board, which Wall Street has been blamed - at least in part - for the storied Silicon Valley's recent missteps.

Whitman, an Internet retail expert with a mixed track record, is not an obvious choice to revive HP, analysts said.

The failed California gubernatorial candidate transformed eBay from a few dozen employees in 1998 into a global Internet retail powerhouse, but the final years of her reign were marked by sputtering growth, intensifying Wall Street criticism and a string of unwise acquisitions, including of Skype.

While her elevation surprised many with its seeming hastiness - for the second time, internal candidates such as enterprise chief David Donatelli were passed over - Apotheker's ejection had been a matter of time.

He becomes the third straight HP CEO shown the door.

"Some might be saying maybe Meg Whitman isn't the right person, either. She's not a hardware person," said Auriga analyst Kevin Hunt. But HP "just needs someone to set the direction."

Analysts had speculated that Apotheker's departure might presage a backtracking on major decisions taken during his 11-month term. But HP reassured investors on a conference call on Thursday that the board was not changing strategy again.

Whitman said HP remained committed to completing a review of its PC division before the year ends, and expected to close the pricey $12 billion acquisition of British software maker Autonomy Corp as planned.

HP's shares closed down 4.8 per cent at $22.80, wiping out much of Wednesday's 6.6 per cent gain.

"We would view any decision not to conduct a comprehensive search of internal and external candidates for a permanent CEO role as unsatisfactory and unnecessarily hasty," Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, who has been openly critical of HP's board, wrote in a note earlier on Thursday.

HP chairman Ray Lane dismissed such concerns. He said the board chose Whitman after serious consideration and that her strong communication and operational execution skills made her the best candidate.-Reuters