Capellas: From Compaq to WorldCom?

It's been a while since we've seen a big executive appointment. Sure, lots of discredited CEOs - and especially CFOs, in some quarters - have moved on but their replacements have normally been lower profile, 'safe pair of hands' characters. So what should we make of Michael Capellas leaving HP and being linked to WorldCom, the disgraced telco and internet giant?

First off, it's no great surprise to see him leave HP. We can't begin to count the number of CEOs who were kept on after their company was acquired only to toddle off a few months later, their tails between their legs. An acquisitive Compaq itself had a few of them in its employ in its day.

But Capellas was slightly different. Sure, he held the normally symbolic 'president' title but he was still a figurehead for the thousands of ex-Compaq staffers who suddenly found themselves learning the HP way. And he was useful player to have around, by all accounts.

His worth can be questioned. HP CEO Carly Fiorina isn't replacing him. Or rather, she is literally replacing him, taking on his duties instead of getting in someone else.

Capellas also gets to leave with about $30m in his pockets, given the closeness to the merger closing, and a reputation pretty much intact.

In fact, it's a reputation that makes him ideal for the job at WorldCom. WorldCom cannot fall much lower. Its previous executives are at the heart of a multibillion dollar accounting scandal, customers are itching to end contracts and if it goes into Chapter 11 protection, it could drag much of the telecoms industry with it. Some people even blame fictitious figures about growth in internet traffic at WorldCom's UUNet division with fuelling the net bubble.

Enter Capellas. Once upon a time he posed on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, sans glasses and in Bruce Springsteen-style leathers. It was at the height of the dot-com madness and Compaq wanted to show this man, who had replaced the go-getting Eckhard Pfeiffer not long before, was interesting, was very much rock and roll.

Now he'd rather bury that front cover. WorldCom will benefit from a sober leader. An operations guy with a sense for the realistic, willing to do the right deals is what's needed.

Given the hole WorldCom is in, it is debateable whether anyone can turn the company around. If Capellas tries and fails no one will hold it against him. If he succeeds, he'll become a turnaround maestro future business school students will study.

Leaving HP, pockets stuffed, was a pretty good decision. Taking the WorldCom job might prove an even better one.