From the AP:

"Lawyers for dissident Hewlett-Packard Co. shareholder Walter Hewlett cited
internal company memos and personal documents in court Tuesday as evidence
that executives deceived investors about the financial prospects of HP's
proposed $19 billion purchase of rival Compaq Computer Corp.

"In opening statements in Hewlett's attempt to overturn a shareholder vote
approving the deal, Hewlett lawyer Stephen Neal claimed HP executives knew
as late as a few days before shareholders were set to vote on the deal last
month that internal projections showed the financial benefits would fall
well short of what HP publicly touted.

"A personal journal entry Compaq CEO Michael Capellas made in late February
or early March was headed "sobering thought" and said "at our course and
speed we will fail."

"At the same time, a select group of HP and Compaq executives held regular
meetings on the merger's progression and consulted a chart that showed the
widening gap between current projected financial benefits of the merger and
what was promised when the merger was initially proposed to shareholders in
an SEC filing. The series of charts was presented to the judge Tuesday, but
was kept from view of the courtroom to protect company secrets."

The rest of the story at
http://www.salon.com/tech/wire/2002/04/23/hp_compaq/index.html


--------------------------------
Tom Brandt
Northtech Systems, Inc.
313 N. 1st Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
http://www.northtech.com/

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