Compaq Shareholders Approve HP Merger

lokem · Mar 21, 2002

Just noticed this over at Yahoo! news:

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp. shareholders on Wednesday approved Hewlett-Packard Co.'s nearly $20 billion acquisition of the company in a clear victory that could pave the way for the computer industry's largest merger ever.

Unlike the contested battle for HP shareholder votes, in which HP claimed a narrow victory but opponents have yet to concede defeat, there was no organized opposition to the merger on the Compaq side. The meeting in a Houston hotel ended in 45 minutes with the vote won by a ratio of 9 to 1

BUT in the later part of the article...

HP VOTE TALLY MAY TAKE WEEKS

Since news of the merger was made public on Sept. 3, Compaq shares have fallen 12.39 percent and HP has fallen 21.59 percent, both underperforming No. 1 computer maker International Business Machines Corp., which rose 5.50 percent in the same period.

While the Compaq approval moves the merger along, the final results of HP's vote on Tuesday in Cupertino, California, may take weeks. HP claimed it won a narrow majority, but Walter Hewlett said the vote was too close to call.

Full article:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&u=/nm/20020321/tc_nm/tech_compaq_dc_87

I just heard the news item over on TechTV. Could even see a LOT of pple picketing outside the conference hall asking the shareholders to say no. Doesn't seem surprising since if they really do merge, they may have to lay off 15k pple as stated in the article itself...

HP and Compaq say they have been working for the past six months on planning the integration of 135,000 employees, devoting 900 employees and 500,000 man-hours to the task. It'll include cutting 15,000 jobs from the new company.

TechSpot

Compaq Shareholders Approve HP Merger

lokem Newcomer, in training