NEWS Hewlett-Packard has announced that a final tally shows its shareholders have approved the Compaq Computer acquisition, paving the way for the largest technology merger in history to close.
HP said it expects to close the deal on Friday and launch the new company Tuesday.
According to the final tally from Delaware-based IVS Associates, 838,401,376 HP shares were voted in favour of the deal, compared with 793,094,105 shares voted against the proposal. Nearly 14 million shares abstained.
The final tally comes a day after a Delaware court rejected a lawsuit from Walter Hewlett seeking to overturn the results of the 19 March shareholder vote. Following the judge's ruling, Hewlett said he would not file an appeal and would also drop his challenge to IVS' preliminary tally.
The final vote certification brings to an end a months-long proxy fight that was one of the most costly and ugly in memory.