Hewlett-Packard Co's board is considering ousting Chief Executive Officer Leo Apotheker after less than a year on the job and replacing him temporarily with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Bloomberg reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

Shares of HP jumped 8.2 percent to $24.31 after news emerged of the potential departure of Apotheker, who is grappling with withering criticism from Wall Street.

The former SAP CEO was a surprise choice to replace the popular Mark Hurd. During his tenure, he slashed sales forecasts repeatedly, backtracked on promises to integrate Palm's webOS software into devices, and struggled to halt a 50 percent plunge in the share price.

In August, HP again frustrated investors by killing off a much-touted line of mobile devices including the TouchPad, declaring it may spin off its massive PC division. Apotheker also spearheaded a deal to buy British software maker Autonomy that many considered too costly.

The board will meet for its regular annual session next week. To try to salvage the situation, it is considering asking Whitman -- who joined HP's board after a failed bid to become California's governor last year -- to serve as interim CEO, Bloomberg cited the two anonymous sources as saying.

Representatives for Whitman, whose track record at eBay came under attack during her campaign, did not respond to requests for comment.

HP representatives were not available for comment.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Matthew Lewis)

Mark Hurd Ebay Meg Whitman