HP fires one employee. Update on "intercepted" voicemail. The plot thickens. It's starting to look as if this could become a case of Waltergate.
Fiorina E-mail -2: Shareholders See Merger As Best Path
By: Mark Boslet, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
PALO ALTO , Calif. -(Dow Jones)- In an e-mail sent to Hewlett-Packard Co . (HWP) employees, Chief Executive Carly Fiorina says the results of Wednesday's preliminary vote count, giving H-P a 45-million vote victory in its planned purchase of Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ - news) Corp. (CPQ) "speak for themselves."
Fiorina also said H-P had let go of one employee who admitted to leaking two company memos to the media.
The outcome of the vote confirms that the majority of H-P shareholders not affiliated with the Hewlett and Packard families or their foundations believe the $20 billion merger is the best path for the company, she wrote.
Fiorina added that the company is cooperating with inquiries by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She said she didn't expect the inquiries to interfere with the expected closing of the merger in early May.
"Frankly, I welcome the opportunity to dispel any and all doubts about the integrity of HP's conduct," she said of the inquiries.
Fiorina said the unidentified employee, who was fired, violated company policy and the "trust of long-time colleagues." Separately, she noted that a continuing investigation into the release to the press of a voicemail she left Chief Financial Officer Robert Wayman indicates the message was intercepted from his home or cell phone, or through the use of his voicemail password.
She said the investigation determined the voicemail was not obtained from H- P's internal voicemail infrastructure.
-By Mark Boslet, Dow Jones Newswires, 650-496-1366; mark.boslet@dowjones.com
(This story was originally published by Dow Jones Newswires)
Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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