Compaq head takes top job in merger

By CHRIS BARTON and AGENCIES

Compaq New Zealand managing director Russell Hewitt will take the top job in the local operations of a merged Hewlett-Packard-Compaq.

Staff from the two hardware makers have been told that the Compaq head will become the New Zealand general manager of the merged company and will also head the enterprise systems division.

Hewlett-Packard's New Zealand chief, Barry Hastings, will head the merged company's personal systems and imaging and printing divisions. No appointment has been made for the services division. Neither Hewitt nor Hastings were available for comment.

The announcement follows a string of announcements worldwide involving about 1000 employees.

Compaq Australia managing director Paul Brandling gets the top job for the merged Australian company and Compaq regional chief Paul Chan will head the merged company in the Asia-Pacific region.

Local staff are expected to hear about their futures soon after the merger is officially closed.

A Delaware court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Hewlett-Packard and against former director Walter Hewlett, who sought to stop the deal. The favourable ruling removes one roadblock to the merger proceeding but others remain, including a recount of the votes, which is also taking place in Delaware.

HP says it hopes to close the deal next week. An earlier vote count of HP shareholders showed they approved the deal by a slim 2.8 per cent margin.

Separately, HP faces a class-action shareholder lawsuit that raises many of the same issues brought in Hewlett's suit.

About 15,000 staff are expected to be laid off worldwide, but it is not yet known how many will be affected in New Zealand, where Compaq has 380 staff and Hewlett-Packard 170.

Last week, Walter Hewlett was dropped from HP's board, which for the first time in six decades has no relative of the founding partners. Chris Barton, agencies