HP/Compaq merger to cost 15,000 jobs

The Hewlett Packard (HP)/Compaq merger will see up to 15,000 jobs cut over 2002 and 2003, HP's chairman and chief executive Carly Fiorina confirmed today.

In a conference call hosted by Fiorina, chief financial officer Bob Wayman and president Mike Capellas, the trio stated that it had modelled some revenue loss to take place over 2002 and 2003, although Wayman was quick to add that the loss would be no more than five per cent.

Fiorina was adamant that the merger was "synergistic" on all counts, and refused to be drawn on questions of product overlap. The trio would only say that there were "great products on both sides, which provided a great product line-up".

Cleverly explaining the fact that some products would be getting the chop, Fiorina stated: "There will be some simplification of the product lines."

She also took the opportunity to describe how the deal came about, making it sound like a love affair. "It wasn't a eureka moment," she said. "It started 18 months ago: we tracked each other's businesses naturally, and we realised how much we think alike as companies."

"There were more and more similarities in what we were doing," she added. "Then it was like a flash in my brain and Mike's at the same time. Twelve months ago we started talking about licensing work together. Then we thought why not a merger? We both said yes, this is a big deal, but we can pull it off."