Apotheker took over from Mark Hurd, who left the company in August 2010 under a cloud following a sexual harassment investigation.
The HP board is said to have reacted following investor criticism of Apotheker's plan to migrate from hardware to focus on software and services.
The HP board is said to be planning to meet with a view to replacing Apotheker, with board member and former eBay head Meg Whitman the most likely candidate.
Such a move would not come cheap though, with some reports suggesting that removing Apotheker could cost HP as much as $33m (£21.3m).
As rumours of a change at the top began circulating (21 September), HP's share price rose from $22 to more than $24 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.
In the company's third quarter results released in August, its printing division added $6.1bn (£3.7bn) to the IT giant's $31.2bn net revenues, down 1% year-on-year.
Sales of its commercial presses came in at $1.3bn for the quarter ending 31 July, down 7% year-on-year and 10% sequentially, although hardware units rose 1%, and sales were marginally up for the nine months.
Have your say in the Printweek Poll
Related stories
Latest comments
"From 1949 until the late 2000s Remploy had a network of government-subsidised factories that offered employment specifically to disabled people, originally often war veterans or victims of industrial..."
"Does appear an odd decision as with that level of shareholder funds they would be liable for the staff redundancy and cover the insolvency costs. It’s not like they could take the money and dodge..."
"It always felt that the Labour government were between a rock and a hard place with regard to fixing the mess they were left by the Tories. They have minimal wiggle room and, though not ideal, it..."
Up next...
Lamina Fasline arrived in September
MRP invests £1.8m in new press and mounter
Over 2,800 organisations challenged globally
Two Sides reports rising greenwash cases and campaign success
Founded in 1884