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EDS shareholders approve HP merger

Colin Barker ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 01 Aug 2008 12:31 BST

EDS's shareholders have agreed to the IT services company's merger with HP, completing another step in EDS becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of HP.

HP agreed to buy EDS for £6.8bn on 13 May. According to EDS, of the shares belonging to those shareholders who chose to vote, around 98.8 percent were voted in favour of adopting the agreement and the plan for merger. That total represents approximately 72.4 percent of issued and outstanding shares of EDS stock.

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Talk of cuts in the EDS workforce, including a 20 percent reduction in the Americas, has been spreading internally among managers at the Dallas-based company, but an EDS spokeperson told sister site ZDNet.com that the rumours were "completely factually incorrect".

"I am pleased that our stockholders have followed the recommendation of the EDS board of directors and supported the combination of EDS and HP," EDS chairman Ron Rittenmeyer said on Thursday. "Not only does the combination of these two great companies create immediate value for our stockholders, it also enhances our ability to achieve our customers' needs with our unwavering commitment to quality and innovation."

The acquisition received antitrust clearance by the European Commission on 25 July. There are still some other transactions around the world, in non-US and non-EU countries, awaiting clearance, the company said.