USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

Main: normal long no graphics Contact Log archives Best log entries Other articles Site Search

Stardate 20010903.2045 (On Screen): I sure didn't expect this. The WSJ and NYT are both reporting that HP is buying Compaq. Based on combined sales, the resulting company will be only slightly smaller than IBM. I don't understand this. There is substantial overlap in the two companies, markets where they both compete now. What happens to those businesses?

Sometimes I understand mergers; sometimes the businesses augment each other nicely. But sometimes it makes no sense to me at all. This one I don't understand. It will be interesting to see what happens to the stock of both companies tomorrow. (discussion in progress)

Update: NYT coverage.

Update 20010904: Well, the market has spoken: HWP is down 18.14% and CPQ is down 10.28%.