HP Integration Chief Vows Compaq Deal Won't Fail
By Craig Zarley, CRN
Palo Alto, Calif.
6:12 PM EST Wed., Dec. 12, 2001
Hewlett-Packard's point man in the Compaq merger integration strategy says the merger is on track despite the Packard and Hewlett families' opposition to the deal.
"We are in the very early stage [of the merger process," said Webb McKinney, president of HP's Business Customer Organization and lead of the Compaq integration team. McKinney made his comments during a conference call with reports on Wednesday. "Eight-two percent of [HP's] shareholders have not made any preliminary announcements of how they might vote, " he said.
McKinney was referring to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which said it would vote its more than 10 percent HP stake against the deal. The foundation's decision reached last Friday follows a decision by HP board member Walter Hewlett to vote the more than 7 percent stake he controls against the deal.
McKinney and other HP executives including Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina have stepped up lobbying efforts in support of the merger following the thumbs down votes from the Packard and Hewlett families.
McKinney said HP "has no plan B" in the event the merger fails. 'We're not even thinking about calling this off," he said.
He said the final proxy statement won't be filed until at least January and the earliest a shareholder vote could come would be February.
McKinney also said that HP is constantly surveying employees to gauge their support of the deal and the majority continue to be in favor of the merger. |
