They weren't bypassed. The deal was brought to them by the CEO for ratification. It will be subject to extensive due diligence, like any deal such as this is. That's exactly how it's supposed to work.
There's nothing "arbitrary" about his decision to buy Instagram. And the fact that he makes decisions like this shouldn't be any more cause for concern then the fact that he makes decisions about whether to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of servers, hire 5000 more employees, or whatever.
The board is there to advise and prevent malfeasance -- not to run the company.
Complaining about how some of the most successful companies in history are run (Google/Facbook/Apple/Microsoft) is rather odd. Do you really think their shareholders would be better served with boards like HP's?
There's nothing "arbitrary" about his decision to buy Instagram. And the fact that he makes decisions like this shouldn't be any more cause for concern then the fact that he makes decisions about whether to buy hundreds of millions of dollars worth of servers, hire 5000 more employees, or whatever.
The board is there to advise and prevent malfeasance -- not to run the company.
Complaining about how some of the most successful companies in history are run (Google/Facbook/Apple/Microsoft) is rather odd. Do you really think their shareholders would be better served with boards like HP's?