HP Snaps Up 3PAR For $2 Billion

adeelarshad82 writes "The bidding war between HP and Dell has reached a swift and dramatic conclusion. One could even say HP sniped the auction at the last minute — to the tune of $2 billion for the acquisition of data storage provider 3PAR. HP's not-so-subtle efforts to pull the company away from a preliminary merger agreement with Dell — a $1.15-billion arrangement announced August 16 — took three successive bids to reach an ultimate conclusion. The final acquisition cost of $2 billion, confirmed by 3PAR late Friday, represents a price of $30 per share of 3PAR stock. That's triple the closing price of the company's stock before Dell's initial offer was made public, and more than double after."

Comments

Check the bid history

[Intron]

One could even say HP sniped the auction at the last minute

Bidder........Bid amount........Bid Time
  HP..........$2,000,000,000....Aug-08-10 11:59:59 PDT
  Dell........$39.95............Aug-08-10 10:37:14 PDT
  HP..........$34.95............Aug-08-10 10:18:22 PDT
  Dell........$24.95............Aug-08-10 9:45:12 PDT
  HP..........$19.95............Aug-08-10 7:06:23 PDT

eBay 101

[leromarinvit]

Someone needs to teach HP some basic eBay skills. A bidding war doesn't make sense if you're going to snipe anyway. The point of sniping is not letting anybody know beforehand that you're interested in the item!