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HP, Compaq Deal Approved
EyesWideOpen writes "The merger between Hewlett-Packard Co. and Compaq Computer Corp. (originally reported in this Slashdot story) is now official according to eWeek as well as SiliconValley.com. From the eWeek article:'Hewlett-Packard Co. today announced that it will complete its $19 billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. and that the merged companies will formally launch as the new HP on May 7.'For you investors out there, HP will begin trading under the new symbol HPQ on Monday." A message to the Interesting People list gives some insight into the shareholder voting procedure.
HPQ, what does that stand for, Hewlett-Paqard?
Believe in things of which no person has ever learned
Not it's not tis: Hardly Passable Quality
-- I am Jack's sig line.
...one competitor less.
Compaq's fine consumer printing division will replace HP's struggling print division.
Compaq will dissolve their business and enterprise division, and refer all service requests to HP consumer tech support.
The new HP will announce a redesigned consumer level computer, named the Paviliario. Exciting new features to include 3 seperate proprietary motherboard connections, an LS-120 drive, and Windows ME. The Presarion business line is expected to be launched within the next few weeks.
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Regarding the other operating systems, I'm fortunate that I only have to worry about the Free Software ones. I do know that HP-UX will be around for a long time.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
Sounds to me more like a clusterfu**
here
That long term outlook is gone from HP now, with the Carly (and Curly) gang in charge.
I'm not sure, but I get the feeling that the demands on company management and the incentives they receive are not well balanced.
I can see where shareholders want to see EPS increases from quarter to quarter, come hell or high water.
Executive perks in terms of stock options tend to be for the short term.
But I can cut costs in the short term by firing the research department, getting rid of quality control and subcontracting maintenance and support to a call center in a blighted urban area.
As long as I get to bail before the cows come to roost in a couple of years, I'm a golden executive at the shareholder's meeting.
Now if they only made sure the stock options given to executives could not be redeemed for at least 5 to 7 years. Their decisions really impact the long term - make their rewards reflect their true impact.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
. . .
Nice link, that Time.com article. Especially the bit about AOL-TW stock effectively valuing the AOL compnent at ZERO :) Just repeating some thoughts below, which seem on topic here and worth reposting :
To me it was always a story of AOL cashing out its funny money stock at the height of the internet boom. Many manias have come and passed, leaving a scorched trail of people who bought in too close to the last hurrah. My guess (since largely vindicated) was that Time - Warner was one such sucker.
Nevertheless, TW was desperately seeking growth, as a mature massive media business. It's much harder to grow incrementally the larger you get and still hit that year on year percentage target for your shareholders. TW's growth prospects were heavily tied to, e.g., newsprint subscriptions, and the internet boom looked then to be able to run and run.
As many corporations who have been out of fashion have found (think banks during the '70s, when all the "smart" money was in the conglomerate boom) out of fashion can quickly mean out of access to capital too, and print and press is desperately cyclical, and very capital intensive - worse even, tied to the sharp acceleration and decelleration of advertising which behaves exaggeratedly in synch with that most nebulous of economic indicators - sentiment.
Things change, and may get better for AOL - TW, but boy does it look tough for them for the forseeable.
Here's some selected quotes from recent Financial Times articles :
But broadband is different. Anyone buying a high-speed internet access over a cable system, for instance, will already be paying for the cable company's own ISP. Why pay for AOL as well
The logic of the synergies, and the merger itself, have failed. . . . shareholders consistently fail to restrain management from empire-building. . . a fine example of hope triumphing over reason . . .AOL used its overvalued paper to buy some real assets . . .Those loyal to Time Warner shares have underperformed the media sector by more than 60 per cent.
It's a sad indictment of much of mainstream press that which was - to me at least (and allowing I spend a good deal of my time studying speculative bubbles) - plain dang obvious, is only talked about now - after we've all been hit by the train. But then it's easy to go with the flow, ain't it?
P.S. Maybe someone still holding the stock should buy Gerald Levin (CEO at time of merger) a t-shirt with a slogan such as "I bought into the biggest merger ever, and all I got was this lousy CD-ROM". Okay, that's enough lame jokes from me . . .
I think a change of titles is appropriate...
May I suggest the "HP Pavillion"?
It can now be revealed what Carly Fiorina meant when she said on the eve of the merger vote that "we may have to do something extraordinary" to get Deutsche Bank to vote the HP way. Shortly before the meeting, Fiorina opened her portfolio and showed DB Chair Hilmar Kopper all her assets. Then she gave him vigorous oral arguments and afterwards personally debriefed the entire DB board. No one knows what she told the board but shrieks of, "Das ist gut, Carly, das ist sehr gut!" reverberated throughout the meeting place during a 40 minute delay before the vote. A HP spokesman said that the DB board put up stiff resistance at first, but afterwards they were putty in her hands.