The family and foundation of Hewlett-Packard co-founder William Hewlett announced Tuesday they will vote their 5 percent stake against the company's proposed takeover of Compaq Computer, dealing a blow to a deal already widely unpopular on Wall Street.
Walter B. Hewlett, the son of Hewlett and a member of the HP (HWP) board, said the company can create better value for shareholders without the addition of Compaq (CPQ). Hewlett said the deal would give the new HP too much exposure to the struggling personal-computer industry and dilute its profitable printer business.
"Given the lack of stockholder benefits, I believe the extensive integration risks associated with this transaction are not worth taking," Hewlett said.
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Blocking spam: NTT DoCoMo said it will spend one billion yen ($8.22 million) to build systems that block unwanted e-mails, or spam, sent over its 'i-mode' Internet mobile phone service.
DoCoMo has received tens of thousands of complaints from users flooded by junk mail on its popular i-mode service.
The carrier said it filed an application with Japan's Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications on Tuesday so it could block e-mails sent to large numbers of invalid e-mail addresses.
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Emergency phone access: Verizon Wireless and the government are in the final stages of a deal that would give some emergency officials priority access to the company's cellular network, according to federal officials.
The system, intended to be used only in times of crisis, would be operational in New York, Washington and Salt Lake City, the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Under the agreement, about 2,000 federal, state and local officials would be given a code that allows them priority over other people trying to make calls, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Plans for some sort of priority access for emergency officials were already in the works, but the Sept. 11 attacks prompted the administration to move faster, FCC spokesman David Fiske said.
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Technology center in Bangalore: Intel plans to invest $25 million to set up a new technology development center in India's technology capital of Bangalore and expand its engineering staff by 60 percent to about 800 by mid-2002, a top company official said.
"We see value in using the engineering resources available in India," said Avtar Saini, Intel's director for South Asia. "It's a long-term strategic direction for the company."
Intel (INTC), which currently employs 500 engineers in six different locations at Bangalore, plans to consolidate the majority of its activities in the new building, Saini said.
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Tech in the West: A strong reliance on high tech business means the clout of the western United States is nearly two times greater than the rest of the country, a Federal Reserve Bank report released Monday found.
But at the same time, that reliance has meant an extreme slowdown as the national economy cools.
High-tech paychecks cover 14.6 percent of the non-farm wages in the nine Western states that comprise the Fed's western district, compared to 7.5 percent in the rest of the country, the report said.
The industry's impact on jobs in the West isn't as dramatic. High-tech employers account for 6 percent of the jobs in the western states, slightly above the 4 percent rate outside the region.
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Disney buys Baby Einstein: Walt Disney (DIS) said it has acquired closely held Baby Einstein, maker of toys and books for babies and toddlers, for an undisclosed sum, broadening its reach to families with small children.
The acquisition of the company includes videotapes, DVDs and CDs, as well as a new collection of books and toys that Baby Einstein launched this fall in conjunction Disney Publishing Worldwide and toymaker Hasbro.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
