Wall Street was also very skeptical that the task of melding the two companies together can be pulled off without a significant loss of sales and confusion among customers. As Ms. Fiorina plans her strategy for the merged company, she doesn't have many successful case studies among the computer-industry's mergers during the past 20 years. We know how hard these acquisitions are. People said Compaq merging with DEC was a pig in a python. Well, this is going to be a porcupine in a python.
Some big investors are equally dubious.
He is doubtful there are any benefits to the deal. Merging the two together doesn't accelerate growth at either one. It certainly will create an 800-pound gorilla of the computer industry. This newly dominant H-P would certainly raise antitrust questions. Federal antitrust enforcers are expected to take a hard look at the deal and could demand divestitures of overlapping product lines or technologies.