A hearing in the suit against Hewlett-Packard, claiming irregularities in the shareholder vote to merge with Compaq Computer, opened today.
Present at the courtroom were Hewlett-Packard chief executive Ms Carly Fiorina and her main adversary in the case, Mr Walter Hewlett, who has led shareholders opposed to the merger.
In the lawsuit, which could delay and even end the merger, Hewlett claims Ms Fiorina coerced Deutsche Bank, a major company shareholder, to change its millions of votes to favor the merger.
Part of that enticement, Mr Hewlett alleges, was the recent establishment of a multimillion-dollar credit that benefited Deutsche Bank.
Ms Fiorina, the chief architect of the merger, contends the deal - valued at some 20 billion dollars, one of the biggest ever in the tech sector - is essential for HP's future in a dwindling technology landscape dominated by giants likes Microsoft and IBM.
AFP