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HP Seals the Deal, Buys EDS For $14B

Posted by timothy on from the the-same-only-different dept.

netbuzz writes "Following yesterday's spate of heated rumors, the announcement comes this morning that HP has completed a deal to buy EDS for just under $14 billion. The acquisition has been approved by the boards of both companies, according to HP. EDS CEO Ron Rittenmeyer has issued an e-mail to his employees promising that the company brand will continue and, "We are — and will remain — EDS."

10 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Heh... by leonbev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if Digital's and Compaq's CEO's sent out a similar e-mail when they got bought out by HP :)

    Look at the bright point, guys... at least you didn't get bought out by IBM. They would have completely turned the business on it's head in a manner of months!

    1. Re:Heh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Compaq's CEO certainly sent out a similar email.

      The surviving Compaq portions of the combined company still have a lot of Compaq culture in them, but the HP culture is slowly eating that away.

      The CEO's extreme cost cutting is having an effect as well. Compaq employees used to have individual offices and free Cokes in the labs. Now we have cubes and expensive vending machine Cokes. Hell, they even took away the sporks from the break rooms.

      So, EDS folk: welcome to the company. Say goodbye to your sporks.

    2. Re:Heh... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Someone can define HP's culture? Compaq's culture? Digital's culture? IBM's culture? And so on? It would be interesting to finally know if they are really so much different.

      --
      Achille Talon
      Hop!
    3. Re:Heh... by spideysense · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah because I'm sure the few hundred dollars they spent on coke and sporks in a year cut REAL deep into the $9.6billion profit from last year. Treating people like their actually human and throwing them a few tiny perks here and there goes a long way.

  2. I hope HP is smarter than GM by maurert · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As an HP employee I hope HP is smarter than GM was. Remember the GM bought EDS in the 80s and EDS milked GM for all it was worth. EDS did great; GM not so. Of course GM thought it was buying a company to outsource its IT to while HP is looking to merge outsourcing operations with EDS.

  3. Yay! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yay! An alternative to IBM Global Services from the maker of some really good servers. Too bad it's EDS, well at least it's not Accenture!

    Go Ross Perot!

  4. So long DELL? by Quetzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Looks like HP is moving into IBM/DELL territory ( managed IT services ). I'm not too worried for IBM.

    DELL, on the other hand, has a real fight on its hands. So.. umm... Mike.. why don't you forget about your small business services crap and go back to focus on making good machines and providing good customer service.

    I don't know if EDS was the best vehicle to use, but its better than trying to setup something new.

  5. The day after. by demachina · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "We are -- and will remain -- EDS."

    Until the day after the merger, the execs cache out, and the infighting between the remaining managers starts. Executives on the bottom end of the merger always do one of two things:

    - Cash out
    - Try to outmaneuver the execs on the top end of the merger and take over the whole company, with a lot of bitter intrigue in the process

    You have to wonder how current EDS customers who are attached to their non HP hardware and software will feel about this when EDS suddenly has a massive bias to drive every nail with an HP hammer.

    --
    @de_machina
  6. Re:The Deal will by SimonGhent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    EDS is an anti-labor, low pay sweatshop.


    EDS is an IT services company, what else would it be?
    --
    simon
  7. Re:The Deal will by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    EDS are a useless shower of bastards who will be first against the wall when the revolution comes. Utterly incompetent, they have an over-inflated sense of self-importance which is continually bolstered by corporations and governments who continue, against all evidence and logic, to truck huge wads of cash over to the aforementioned useless bastards who then fuck it all up and deliver shit, late.

    The UK government has already given the cunts enough of my cash that I should own a couple of EDS offices by now. Instead we've got sweet F.A.