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HP vote on Compaq deal clears last official hurdle

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Wednesday cleared a last hurdle to its $18 billion acquisition of Computer Corp. when officials certified the HP shareholder vote, opening the way for the new company to launch next week.

The largest merger in technology industry history was approved by a margin of 45.3 million votes, about 3 percent of the 1.65 billion votes cast, the official count showed, HP said.

The results, expected after merger opponent Walter Hewlett lost his court challenge and conceded the hard-fought battle on Tuesday, open the way for the merger to officially close on May 3, with the new company launching May 7, HP said.

Hewlett, the son of co-founder Bill Hewlett, said late on Tuesday that he would work to help integrate the two companies, although he was kicked off the board last week, following HP's decision not to renominate him.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge William Chandler had rejected Hewlett's suit, in which he claimed that HP management lied to shareholders about financial projections and bought votes from a key investor on the eve of the March 19 merger vote, which he tried to overturn.

That also vindicated chief executive Carly Fiorina, who forced the deal through over the opposition of HP founding families and a host of investors who saw the acquisition of No. 2 personal computer maker Compaq cheapening HP's technology portfolio.

Fiorina envisions building a technology powerhouse that could take on industry leader International Business Machines Corp, offering one-stop shopping and consulting services to customers.

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