HP fires worker who 'leaked info'

Ian Fried, CNET CNET News.com

Published: 19 Apr 2002 07:32 BST

Hewlett-Packard has said in an email to employees that it has fired a worker who admitted to forwarding two company memos to the press.

The company did not provide details on the worker, the contents of the memos or how it determined the employee's identity. In March, HP's shares slipped after a report that the head of HP's services unit sent staffers a memo discussing possible problems with the division.

Meanwhile, the company said it is still trying to find out who leaked a controversial voicemail message that chief executive Carly Fiorina left for another top HP executive.

In Wednesday's email, Fiorina said that HP's investigation of the voicemail issue "indicates the message was intercepted from Bob Wayman's home or mobile phone, or through unauthorised access to and use of Bob's voicemail password." HP said it has concluded that no one broke into the company's voicemail infrastructure.

In the voice mail in question, Fiorina expressed concern over how Deutsche Bank and Northern Trust, two institutional investors, planned to vote on HP's proposed merger with Compaq. Fiorina said in the message that HP might have to "do something extraordinary" to sway their votes.

The actions HP took to win support from Deutsche Bank are the subject of a lawsuit from dissident board member Walter Hewlett. Hewlett claims that HP improperly influenced Deutsche Bank with the promise of financial inducements to garner its vote. HP denies that claim.

Separately, Fiorina said she was "delighted" with an independent tally that showed that HP's shareholders voted to support the Compaq merger by a roughly 3 percent margin.

"While the results speak for themselves, the merger opponents may demand a recount of today's preliminary results, a process we expect will begin promptly and take about a week," Fiorina said. She added that opponents of the deal could also challenge the final tally, which could add one or two more days to the process.

A representative for Hewlett told CNET News.com that the deal's opponents "do intend to review and challenge the vote."

Hewlett's lawsuit seeking to throw out the results of the vote is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday in Delaware.

"We also expect to overcome the legal challenges raised by merger opponents," Fiorina said in the email. "Next week HP will appear in Delaware Chancery Court to testify that the campaign for proxy votes was full and fair, and that all HP shareholders made their own, independent decisions based on all of the facts regarding the merger."

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