Meg Whitman tapped as CEO of Jeffrey Katzenberg's NewTV

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Meg Whitman, who announced she will step down as CEO of Hewlett-Packard in November, was named the CEO of NewTV, a mobile-first media platform founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the company announced Wednesday.

Whitman will remain at Hewlett-Packard until Feb. 1 and take the reins at NewTV on March 1.

In a statement, Whitman said NewTV is "one of the most disruptive and timely ideas I've come across during my career."

Whitman, who was tapped to be the CEO of eBay in 1998, three years after the company's founding, told Variety that leading a new company "is a return to my start-up roots."

"I took eBay from $4 million and 30 employees to $8 billion in revenues and 18,000 employees," she said.

"Meg is one of the most accomplished and sought-after executives of our time. She has built and scaled some of the most important global companies today," Katzenberg said. "To say I am thrilled that Meg will be at the helm would be an understatement. Her leadership, operational expertise, and deep understanding of technology and consumer behavior will be invaluable in creating the future of mobile entertainment."

NewTV, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, says it plans on bringing the "highest quality Hollywood-style productions to mobile, in bite-sized formats of 10 minutes or less."