In January, HP handed 23-year HP veteran Jim Murrin a big job, Business Insider has learned from an internal email (full text below).
The move was not announced publicly. (Murrin hasn't even updated his LinkedIn profile.)
But HP sent us an email confirming his new job.
This new role is interesting because Murrin was HP's controller, the top accountant, when HP bought Autonomy in 2011 for $11 billion, and for about six months after the Autonomy deal closed. That deal did not end well.
Murrin will now lead the corporate development unit, overseeing mergers and acquisitions. Plus he was given a brand new task: to help HP's board understand the company's financials, particularly of any new acquisition target.
Murrin replaced Andy Johnson, who was the top finance guy responsible for M&A when HP bought Autonomy. Johnson is currently on a leave of absence.
To recap: HP bought Autonomy in 2011 for $11 billion. Autonomy makes "big data" software. It was former HP CEO Leo Apotheker's signature deal. Apotheker was fired in September, 2011, before HP even closed the purchase. In November, HP announced that it was writing off $8.8 billion from Autonomy and said it discovered $5 billion worth of "improper accounting" on Autonomy's books. Autonomy execs refute HP's accusations.
Automy's problems have triggered a lot of drama within HP and at least 10 shareholder lawsuits.
Murrin was HP's controller from 2007 to April, 2012. In May he moved to a job as a senior vice president of HP ES, which lasted until his new appointment at the beginning of this year.
Murrin is named in one of those lawsuits from the Autonomy fallout, accused of $3.5 million-worth of insider trading for stock sold months before HP disclosed Autonomy's problems. To be fair, this lawsuit also names CEO Meg Whitman, former CEO Leo Apotheker and CFO Cathy Lesjak. Shareholder lawsuits tend to be scatter-shot affairs that make wide ranging accusations in hopes that one of them will pay off.
We also know that at least one of the questioned trades was prescheduled — and therefore not likely to be against the law.
By some reports, HP's accountants were trying to be the good guys, too. Lesjak, Murrin's boss, reportedly tried to stop the Autonomy deal, telling the board she thought HP was paying too much.
So in one way, with this promotion, HP appears to be saying that it won't be bullied by frivolous shareholder lawsuits when choosing its leaders.
Here's the full-text of the January email sent out to all HP employees announcing Murrin's promotion by HP's CFO Lesjak:
Today I am pleased to announce that Jim Murrin is re-joining my finance leadership team as Senior Vice President of Corporate Financial Analytics and Corporate Development.