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Hewlett-Packard shareholders have narrowly endorsed a proposal by CEO Carly Fiorina for the company to merge with rival Compaq.
Ms Fiorina’s two-stage plan involves efficiency savings from back-office consolidation, followed by a complete corporate collapse.
Dissident board member Walter Hewlett had campaigned for an alternative “go quietly into the night” collapse plan.
“This is a great new beginning of the end for HP and Compaq,” a jubliant Fiorina told The Daily Grind. The Chairman and CEO then cleaned out her desk in anticipation of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, due by July.
Analysts expect that many PC makers will be forced to the wall as part of the commodification of computing. The successful PC makers of tomorrow will market “services” and “mass customisation”, not just ship boxes.
Apple will also survive, for no apparent reason.
