HP fires worker who allegedly leaked info

Hewlett-Packard said in an e-mail to employees Wednesday 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 added Wednesday that it is still trying to find out who leaked a controversial voice mail message that CEO Carly Fiorina left for another top HP executive.


In Wednesday's e-mail, Fiorina said that HP's investigation of the voice mail issue "indicates the message was intercepted from Bob Wayman's home or cell phone, or through unauthorized access to and use of Bob's voice mail password." HP said it has concluded that no one broke into the company's voice mail 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 Computer. 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 e-mail. "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."