HP says 65 pct of employees support Compaq merger

  SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Internal polls show a majority
 of Hewlett-Packard Co. employees support plans to buy
 Compaq Computer Corp., the company said on Friday,
 although a leading critic of the merger said an independent
 survey was needed.

  Hewlett-Packard in a filing said 65 percent of employees
 supported the $24 billion merger in a survey ended Jan 9.

  The company has touted higher numbers previously, although
 executives said support was higher than the previous broad survey
 in mid-November, when 55 percent backed the deal.

  Less than 3 percent of HP stock is held by employees, but their
 support is seen as crucial to a successful integration of the two
 companies and internal support would suggest the merger is not
 simply an idea pushed by the Hewlett-Packard board.

  Chief Executive Carly Fiorina also has repeatedly urged
 employees to show their support by focusing on business and
 delivering strong results for the January-end quarter, which will
 be reported in the middle of February, before the merger vote
 goes to shareholders.

  Fiorina and senior executives at HP and Compaq have devoted
 substantial time and energy to convincing employees that the
 merger would be good for the company, even though it would entail
 some 15,000 job cuts.

  But critics including David Packard, son of a founder, say the
 rank and file have opposed the tie-up.

  "I received 200 letters against the merger before I got a single
 letter in favor," Packard wrote in a Wednesday full-page
 advertisement in the Wall Street Journal.

  Hewlett-Packard says Fiorina has been convincing employees about
 the deal's wisdom as she has visited plants.

  "What we have seen is that every event we have done is just
 pushing the needle up and up," said Employee Communications
 Director Yvonne Hunt.

  Walter Hewlett, the dissident board member leading the fight
 against the merger, made his position public Nov. 6. Hewlett has
 launched a proxy fight against the deal, and on Friday he even
 launched a Web site, www.votenohpcompaq.com.

  The mid-November HP poll reflected confusion among the troops,
 Hunt said.

  But about 76 percent of around 1,300 workers approved the deal
 after in a Dec. 10 poll after a meeting with Fiorina. Senior
 executives have shown support in the 90 percent range after such
 controlled events.

  Packard, who has been especially critical of the job cuts and
 argued the Hewlett-Packard board should commission an independent
 survey that would show how far employees trusted and were loyal
 to management.

  REUTERS



Here's where I got this from: (if you can display it)
http://q1.schwab.com/content/rb/2002/01/25/584067.html

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