The board of directors of Hewlett-Packard yesterday announced
that, based on a preliminary estimate of shareowner proxies, it
believes it has received sufficient votes to approve HP's merger
with Compaq. The company acknowledged, however, that the official
result could take weeks. Officials have the task of counting the
votes of the 900,000 shareholders who own HP’s 1.9 billion
shares.
Carly Fiorina, CEO of HP, said:
"We are gratified that HP shareowners
recognise the compelling strategic and economic benefits of the
merger and that a decisive majority of shares not affiliated with
the Hewlett and Packard families and foundations appear to have
been voted in favour of this transaction.”
"We look forward to Compaq's shareowner vote
tomorrow and the official certification, and we expect to complete
the merger soon after the vote is certified - allowing us to
quickly begin execution of the comprehensive integration plans we
have been preparing for many months.”
Walter Hewlett, son of the company’s co-founder and Fiorina’s
most vocal critic, yesterday refused to concede victory, describing
the results as “too close to call”. In a final plea before voting
began, he warned sharholders against making a “$25 billion
mistake.”
In fact, the share price has dropped the value of the deal to
around $21 billion, $4 billion less than it would have been if it
had completed in September 2001. HP shares fell again upon the
company’s victory declaration.
Even if the vote is confirmed as a victory for Fiorina, her
biggest challenge could be integrating two very different
companies. Shareholder votes aside, CNet news notes that,
“depending on whose surveys you believe, anywhere from one-third to
two-thirds of HP workers oppose the deal. Motivating those workers
will be a difficult but critical task.”
