HP closes EDS deal

Only cost $13.9 billion

26 August 2008 14:48 GMT / By Katie Scott

It confirmed that it was in talks way back in May, but now Hewlett-Packard has confirmed it has closed a $13.9 billion deal to buy Electronic Data Systems.

The rumours were brought to a head in the Spring by a report in the Wall Street Journal, which claimed that the two companies were close to a deal and suggested that EDS may be priced between $12bn (£6.1bn) and $13bn.

But HP eventually put a $13.9 billion offer on the table and has now bought EDS.

It will reveal its plans for the company in a meeting on 15 September.

Analysts are proposing that the deal is part of a bid by HP to become a big IT service provider.

Chad Hersh from Novarica told the Beeb in May: "HP has been trying to promote themselves as a major services organization over the past few years".

"This will certainly help them with that."

Full tags

Biz, Hardware, HP, Electronic Data Systems