For his part Tom Perkins–the Silicon Valley venture capitalist and former HP director who agitated to bring the boardroom furor to public light–seems content to retreat to the sidelines. Reached aboard his new megayacht near Minorca in the Mediterranean, he told NEWSWEEK press reports that he wanted to return to the board were wrong. And he says he has no interest in pursuing any possible lawsuits against HP for hacking his personal phone records or for any compensation he lost by resigning in May. “My No. 1 thing was to get Pattie [Dunn] out as chairman, and I got that,” he says. “So I’m happy.” For the moment, he may be the only one in the whole mess who can say that.
