Hewlett-Packard Co. ushered in Meg Whitman as its CEO with a $16.5 million compensation package. It hinges on whether the former candidate for California governor can lift the stumbling technology company's stock price during the next two years.

Last year's pay consists almost entirely of 1.9 million stock options valued at $16.1 million. HP disclosed that amount for the first time in a Friday regulatory filing. The company announced Whitman would be getting the stock options shortly after her hiring, but didn't specify their value at that time.

Whitman is getting a $1 salary while she tries to rebuild the momentum that HP lost after ousting Mark Hurd as its CEO in a titillating scandal in 2010.

Whitman replaced Hurd's successor, Leo Apotheker, last September.