Antonio Neri, the longstanding CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), is facing one of the most pivotal moments of his tenure. With activist investor Elliott Management pushing for leadership change and a slew of organizational challenges testing the company’s strategic course, Neri’s position has come under intense scrutiny just ahead of the HPE Discover 2025 conference.
In a development that could reshape HPE’s executive leadership, Elliott Management—now a significant stakeholder with a reported $1.5 billion position—has called on the board to consider removing Antonio as CEO. The investment firm has cited poor stock performance, concerns over execution of key strategies, and a lack of confidence in current leadership amid major market shifts. While Elliott hasn’t publicly named a replacement, their influence has reportedly pushed HPE’s board to initiate internal reviews, setting the stage for a potential shakeup.
Amid this leadership pressure, HPE announced plans to cut around 2,500 jobs—roughly 5% of its global workforce—by 2027. This move is aimed at achieving $350 million in annual savings. Reasons cited for the layoffs include a glut of unsold GPU-based servers, margin pressures due to tariffs and supply chain costs, and a realignment of focus toward AI, cloud, and networking investments. This is one of the largest layoffs HPE has announced under Neri’s leadership and has added to the investor discontent.
HPE’s planned $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks—a move hailed by Neri as key to their AI-driven networking ambitions—is now facing a legal hurdle from the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ has filed a lawsuit to block the merger on antitrust grounds, claiming it would stifle innovation in enterprise networking. Neri remains optimistic but is under pressure to either secure the deal or pivot strategically before the Discover 2025 event in June.
Scheduled for June 24, 2025, at the Sphere in Las Vegas, HPE Discover 2025 is set to be a litmus test for Neri’s leadership. He’s expected to unveil new innovations in AI-native infrastructure, updates to HPE GreenLake and hybrid cloud services, networking breakthroughs from Juniper (if approved), and edge-to-cloud AI solutions. With media, partners, and analysts watching closely, Neri’s keynote could determine his standing as CEO in the months ahead.
Investors are bracing for volatility in HPE stock as employees face uncertainty amid restructuring and job cuts. Enterprise clients may question HPE’s stability and long-term roadmap, while tech regulators are closely watching the implications of the Juniper deal on market competition.
If you’re an HPE stakeholder or industry observer, it’s crucial to monitor updates from HPE’s board on leadership review, tune into HPE Discover 2025 for clarity on strategy, review the impact of workforce reduction on ongoing projects, and follow SEC and DOJ updates on the Juniper acquisition status.
Neri’s legacy at HPE is at risk as the board weighs future moves. From his early promise as a transformative leader to now facing pressure from investors, layoffs, and regulators, his role hangs in the balance. His ability to defend his record and present a compelling future at Discover 2025 may ultimately determine whether he continues to steer HPE—or passes the baton to new leadership.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) challenging start to 2025 took a new turn this week as activist investment firm Elliott Investment Management sunk a big investment into HPE under reports that it’s looking to replace long-time HPE CEO Antonio Neri. The investor challenge comes as HPE ramps for a legal fight to save its $14 billion Juniper Networks purchase.
Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Elliott Investment Management had acquired more than $1.5 billion in HPE with an obvious intent to boost the value of that investment. Semafor has since reported that Elliott Investment sent a letter to HPE’s board asking for Neri’s removal, with the board expected to meet on that request. Elliott Investment Management has a history of using a substantial investment stake to sway leadership at technology companies, including a hand in AT&T ditching long-time CEO Randall Stephenson for John Stankey.
Neri joined Hewlett Packard in 1995 and worked for years overseeing internal initiatives like HPE Next and helping with various acquisitions. Neri was tapped to replace high-profile CEO Meg Whitman in early 2018.
HPE’s potential leadership challenge comes as the vendor is preparing to defend its more than year-long quest to acquire networking rival Juniper Networks. That deal was initially announced in early 2024, with an expected close early this year. However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit in late January challenging the deal due to market competition concerns.
The DOJ’s move focused heavily on HPE and Juniper’s current positions in the overall WLAN market, noting that a consolidation of the ecosystem’s No. 2 and No. 3 vendors would hurt market choice and innovation. It added that Juniper’s standalone market innovations have forced larger rival HPE to cut pricing and invest in its own innovations.
HPE in its detailed filing pointed specifically to the deal allowing it to be more competitive against market heavyweight Cisco and providing an international alternative to China-based vendor Huawei. HPE also highlighted a handful of other credible competitors in the U.S., including Extreme, Arista, Fortinet, Ruckus, Ubiquiti, Nile, and Meter.
“We strongly believe this transaction will positively change the dynamics in the networking market by enhancing competition,” Neri added during the call. “HPE and Juniper remain fully committed to the transaction, which we expect will deliver at least $450 million in gross annual run-rate synergies to shareholders within three years of the deal closing.”
The case is set to be argued in front of a judge beginning July 9. Terms of the deal allow Juniper to pull out of the agreement before its expected closing, but doing so would require it to pay a $407.5 million termination fee to HPE. Juniper would also receive an $815 million termination fee should HPE not be able to close the deal by October 9.
HPE is also coming off of a rough financial quarter, which included a mea culpa from Neri and plans to cut thousands of jobs. Despite HPE posting a near record 17% increase in overall revenues compared to the same quarter last year and that it met its growth expectations, Neri told investors that “we could have executed better.”
Neri during the investor call said that HPE’s traditional server pricing did not adequately account for the evaluation of its inventory, which resulted in incremental server margin pressure. That pressure was compounded by higher discounts due to aggressive price and competition in the market. HPE’s server margins were also compressed by higher than normal AI inventory caused by the rapid transition of demand to next-generation GPUs and related components.
Neri explained that HPE has taken action to counter these issues, but those challenges will remain over the next couple of quarters. Those actions will also include the vendor slashing approximately 2,500 jobs—5% of its current workforce—over the next 18 months. This will include actual job cuts and attrition.
“We see additional opportunities to take incremental corporate cost actions to further strengthen our financial profile,” Neri said, adding that the job cuts “will better align our cost structure to our business mix and long-term strategy.” HPE’s stock price had been gaining momentum since the Juniper Network deal was announced and leading into just before the DOJ’s lawsuit. It has since slowly declined, with an accelerated drop coming out of that latest earnings release.
