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Hewlett-Packard Agrees to Buy Compaq for $25 Bln (Update2)
By Cesca Antonelli
Palo Alto, California, Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to buy Compaq Computer Corp. for $25 billion in stock, as the second-biggest computer maker tries to take on larger rival International Business Machines Corp. in services and consulting.
Compaq shareholders will get 0.6325 of a Hewlett-Packard share for each share they own, Compaq spokesman Arch Currid said. Hewlett- Packard shareholders will own 64 percent of the combined company, to be run by Carly Fiorina, the Palo Alto, California-based company's chairwoman and chief executive.
Sales of personal computers, printers and related equipment have tumbled this year, dragging down Hewlett-Packard's net income 89 percent in the most recent quarter. Fiorina is betting that combining with Compaq will speed growth in computer services, a higher-profit business that she's stressed as the key to rejuvenating sales. Analysts criticized the move, saying it may not generate the growth and savings Fiorina wants.
``It really doesn't make any sense,'' said Ashok Kumar, a US Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst. ``It will be a big distraction for H- P. In hindsight, this will probably not go down as a good acquisition.''
The agreement values Compaq at $14.68 a share, or 19 percent more than Friday's closing price. Michael Capellas, chairman and CEO of Houston-based Compaq, will become president of the combined company. Capellas and four other Compaq directors will join Hewlett- Packard's board, the companies said.
The transaction will result in savings of $2 billion in fiscal 2003, the companies said. They expect the acquisition, already approved by both boards, to be completed in the first half of next year. Currid declined to elaborate ahead of a news conference later today. Hewlett-Packard officials couldn't be reached to comment.
``At a particularly challenging time for the industry, this combination vaults us into a leadership role with customers and partners,'' Fiorina said in a statement.
Compaq shares rose as much as 16 percent in Germany.
Overlapping Lines
The two companies sell PCs, servers that run Internet sites and corporate networks and related services and consulting. Both have focused on increasing services revenue this year, trying to make up for falling PC prices and mount a challenge to IBM, whose services business has helped it weather the slowdown in corporate spending caused by sagging economic growth.
IBM, the biggest seller of computers and related services, had sales of $21.6 billion in its most recent quarter, while Compaq sales reached $8.45 billion and Hewlett-Packard's were $10.1 billion.
The similar strategies at Hewlett-Packard and Compaq left them with a lot of overlapping product lines, analysts said. Compaq's PCs and high-end servers are too much like Hewlett-Packard's lineup, Kumar said.
Demand hasn't rebounded after a dismal holiday sales season last year, as consumers and corporations worry about the economy and put off purchases. PC shipments in the calendar second quarter dropped from a year ago for the first time since 1986, according to researcher Dataquest Inc.
Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and rivals like Gateway Inc. and Dell Computer Corp. all have fired thousands of workers this year. IBM is the only large PC company that hasn't cut jobs to trim costs.
Falling Profit, Sales
Compaq, which plans to fire 8,500 workers this year to cope with the sales slowdown, lost its spot as the biggest PC seller to Dell in the past two quarters. After trying to match Dell's PC price cuts earlier this year, Compaq backed off that strategy and has since tried to focus on more profitable sales. The company's profit fell 81 percent in the second quarter and sales dropped 17 percent.
Hewlett-Pac