Hewlett gives up merger battle

Walter Hewlett has lost his legal fight against the company his father founded, clearing the way for the IT industry's biggest ever merger.

Hewlett's lawsuit accused HP boss Carly Fiorina of buying shareholders' approval prior to the all important merger vote on 19 March.

However, the judge overseeing the case said Hewlett failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate his claim that Deutsche Bank was pressurised into voting in Fiorina's favour.

The court in Delaware also cleared HP executives of accusations they had exaggerated to shareholders the financial benefits of the acquisition.

Walter Hewlett has been battling against the merger from the very outset, but has now issued a statement saying he would "now do everything possible to support the successful implementation of HP's acquisition of Compaq".

Preliminary results of the vote in March came out in favour of the merger by 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent.

Hewlett's loss now clears the way for the launch of the new combined company on 7 May.