Hewlett Says to Drop Challenges to HP-Compaq Merger
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walter Hewlett, who had led a six-month-long fight against Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (NYSE:HWP - news) $18 billion bid to buy Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news), on Tuesday dropped his challenges and pledged to support the deal, clearing the way for the biggest merger ever in the computer industry.
Hewlett, a former director of HP a son of one of the company's co-founders, said he had decided not to appeal a ruling of a Delaware court issued Tuesday that rejected his charges that management had lied to shareholders and coerced a major investor into backing the deal.
"After reviewing the Court's opinion, we have decided not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Delaware," he said. "Additionally, we have decided to discontinue the review and challenge period of the preliminary vote count and permit the vote to be certified."
Hewlett said that while he had disagreed with the rest of the HP board over the merits of the merger deal, he would also work now to make it a success in order to benefit investors.
"I will therefore now do everything possible to support the successful implementation of HP's acquisition of Compaq and encourage others who have shared my views in the past several months to do the same," Hewlett said in the statement. |
