“Five months in, CEO Mark Hurd’s no-nonsense approach is being felt in a big way — and the Street has taken notice

It was April. R. Todd Bradley was sitting on the beach near his San Diego home when his mobile phone rang. A friend was calling to urge him to get in touch with Mark V. Hurd, the newly appointed chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ). The computer and printer giant was looking for someone to run its $25 billion PC unit. Bradley, fresh off a tough turnaround at handheld maker Palm (PALM ), was a reluctant recruit. “I was ready to lay on the beach for a while — both literally and figuratively,” he says.”

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