Xerox to nominate up to 11 directors to HP's board in hostile takeover push – report

Xerox is preparing to nominate up to 11 directors to HP's board to push through a $33.5bn takeover bid, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company grabbed a small stake in HP in recent weeks, which allows Xerox to nominate directors at HP's annual shareholder meeting this summer. The deadline for nominations is Friday …

[MJB7]

Has this ever worked?

Can anyone point at a large scale (>$1B) takeover like this which has enhanced shareholder value after, say, five years? (Obviously that does require one to make a guess at what the shareholder value would have been absent the take-over.)

[Snake]

Re: Has this ever worked?

At this point in our [human] history I no longer feel that actual results matter, just who is saying it.

So the fact that rich people will tell the peons that this will be good for them, will be good enough.

As if the peons had any other choice, really (see: Chipotle's 2014 vote on CEO pay).

[Peter-Waterman1]

Re: Has this ever worked?

Dell buying EMC seems to have gone fairly well for Dell looking at the last few years share price

[Kabukiwookie]

Re: Has this ever worked?

Unregulated (or insufficiently regulated for the pedantis under us) result in monopolies.

Monopolies are the death of competition an the free market.

Any real capitalist would be opposing this merger.

Unfortunately, capitalism is for plebs, who can compete themselves into the ground, while the real large amounts of money are made through corporate socialism.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Has this ever worked?

In this case, I can't see it ending well. The so-called synergies never materialise and Xerox are funding the buy-out with debt. Loading up your purchase with debt never seems to work.

[Steve Chalmers]

Re: Has this ever worked?

Yes. Industry consolidation acquisitions, where the industry itself is shrinking (or at least not growing) and one of the companies involved is very clearly not going to be a long term survivor in its segment.

HP (the combination of HP Ink and HPE) was very, very good at industry consolidation acquisitions, however painful those may be to the employees and to the communities which are affected.

It strikes me as chutzpah on Xerox's part to take the role of hostile acquirer, rather than has been acquiree. I hope that if this moves forward the institutional knowledge of the "clean room" process used in the HP/Compaq merger is applied in the same evenhanded and objective (and make the damn decision now so we can tell our customers and people on day 1 what's happening) way it was 20 years ago.

[MJB7]

HPI or HPE

Is this HP Enterprise or HP Inc? Some of us lose track.

[Steve Foster]

Re: HPI or HPE

Since it's the printer company, it's HP Ink^Hc.

[Anonymous Coward]

couldn't they just xerox a copy, rather than paying on HP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nah!

HP has lost its magic sauce. synergies perhaps but 33beelions worth?#!@

[MiguelC]

Re: Nah!

Xerox only hopes for $2bn in synergies (+ $1bn to $1.5bn of "potential growth opportunities"), as per the article

And even that is questionable, as the HP Compaq merger showed ($2.5bn? pah!)

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Nah!

Then you've got to factor in the interest and repayments on the borrowed capital and all the fees from the vultures advisors who'll flock to the kill. The resulting zombie will stagger on under the debt burden until somebody else comes along with another leveraged buyout adding more debt until it goes the same way as Maplin.

[Velv]

I have to say that as a sensible investor I tend to look at anything Carl Ichan wants as being against the best interests of the majority of ordinary shareholders.

[CrazyOldCatMan]

anything Carl Ichan wants as being against the best interests of anyone not called Carl Ichan

There. FTFY.

[Hans 1]

If yours won't support a merger, we'll install some who will

Bloody hell, I had a mouth full of ale while reading that and almost had to use the keyboard icon thank ... luckily special ale, Duvel Single, no, not that special, but 'ard to find 'round 'ere, managed to keep it in ....

[Augie]

Well, he's probably feeling poor and needs a few more billion...