At Hewlett Packard Enterprise, CEO Antonio Neri is negotiating with an activist investor with a history of forcing out chief executives

Photo: Antonio Neri, chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE), speaks during a keynote address at the HPE Discover event at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. HPE announced a single partner program, HPE Partner Ready Vantage, consolidating existing programs to enhance partner experiences across the entire HPE portfolio, according to the company. Photographer: Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Credit: Photographer: Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

• Activist investor Elliott Management’s $1.5 billion stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is a problem for CEO Antonio Neri, due to Elliott’s history of ousting CEOs. HPE recently tanked its own stock by failing to spot an error in the way it priced its inventory. Both companies have been silent on negotiations between them but clues as to what Elliott wants from HPE are hiding in plain sight.

It was first publicly reported in April that the activist investor group Elliott Management had taken a $1.5 billion stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and since then there has been nothing but complete silence on the issue from both companies.