Memoirs of HP scandal figure set for sale

SAN FRANCISCO —  Thomas J. Perkins co-founded the firm that helped spawn Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Genentech Inc. He married -- and divorced -- romance novelist Danielle Steel. And his resignation from Hewlett-Packard Co.’s board revealed the spying that rocked that Silicon Valley institution.

The venture capitalist has been relatively quiet since the effort by HP’s hired security consultants to ferret out boardroom leaks by spying on employees, media and directors exploded last year. Now, at 75, Perkins is returning to the spotlight with a memoir that starts with the HP scandal.

A week before “Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins” goes on sale, Perkins marveled at how the affair still generates headlines even though most of the criminal cases have been settled and the computer company’s business remains largely unaffected.

“These ladies just can’t stop taking whacks at me,” Perkins said of former HP Chief Executive Carly Fiorina and Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who left the board in the wake of the scandal. In an interview published last week, Fiorina called bringing Perkins back to HP in 2005 the worst mistake of her career.

Perkins -- a self-described “player,” “smooth operator” and “billionaire who writes books” -- is usually direct like that, and self-assured. “Valley Boy” is his fourth book, coming after a textbook on laser science, a treatise on rare antique sports cars and the novel “Sex and the Single Zillionaire.”

Sometimes, he can be brutal, a venture capital colleague said.

“If you want to stand up to him, you’d better be ready to, A, have your reasoning lined up and B, be ready for a very emotional confrontation,” said Franklin “Pitch” Johnson, 79, who has known Perkins since the 1970s when they funded Tandem Computers, where Perkins remained deeply involved.

Perkins’ on-again, off-again history with HP goes back decades. In 1963, co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard invited him to become the administrative head of the research department. He was the first general manager of its computer business.

He says that he rejoined the board -- for the last time -- at Fiorina’s urging in January 2005. Fiorina was out a month later and Dunn took over as chairwoman.

“She still doesn’t get it: The day she was fired, the stock went up,” Perkins said of Fiorina.

Fiorina’s spokesman did not return calls seeking comment. Dunn’s spokesman said she has commented about Perkins only to correct the record.