Hewlett-Packard has announced that Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, will be the new Chief Executive Officer of the company. She will be the fourth CEO of HP in six years.

Whitman, 55, is recognized for helping build eBay into the world's largest Internet auctioneer, with a market value of about $40 billion.

Whitman seems to agree that investors prefer steady leadership to another unsettling change of course when she stated that her intention was to follow strategies set in motion by her predecessor, Leo Apotheker.

HP's market value has dropped by $60 billion since CEO Mark Hurd was forced out in August 2010 over an ethical scandal. Hurd's departure set the stage for Apotheker's appointment as CEO.

Apotheker, who was the CEO for less than 11 months, was shown the door on Wednesday after the company had cut sales forecasts three times and made strategy shifts that blindsided investors.

HP's astonishing announcement to possibly spin off its core PC business and shutter its tablet and smartphone operations sped up the decline. Investors were worried about its decision to pay a high premium of $10 billion to buy software maker Autonomy.

The main challenge for Whitman is to enhance revenue while alleviating the investors whose shock resulted in 47 percent fall under Apotheker.

Smartphone Meg Whitman HP New York