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Hewlett spells out his merger opposition in court."Hewlett admitted that he never brought his doubts about financial numbers created by HP's Chairwoman and CEO Carly Fiorina and CFO Robert Wayman to the rest of the board in January because he was too engaged in his proxy fight and because he was estranged from the rest of the board by that time."
The way Hewlett has behaved throughout this process is absolutely appalling. If you are on the Board of Directors, you have a fiduciary responsibility to present doubts and issues within the board setting. Instead, Hewlett has taken his fight public, much to the detriment of HP as a company.
From my limited view, I have serious doubts whether the merger makes any kind of financial sense. AOL Time Warner just posted a huge write-off of $56 billion from their merger. And, I see all kinds of signs of executive conflict of interest where what is exceedingly profitable for the executives involved... doesn't necessary transfer to either shareholders or rank-and-file employees.
Still, if Hewlett did not work with the board in good faith to help them understand more fully the weaknesses in the merger, then he acted out of egotistical umbrage and not from integrity. If the other board members were blinded by their own greed or misinformation or miscalculation, he could have at least tried to be the advocate for a different perception. Instead, he just poked them all in the eye and then crowed to everyone about how they "could not see."
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