Caught this on the tv news this morning--Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy Electronic Data Systems Corp. for about $12.6 billion in cash to build a technology-services company.
The companies said Tuesday their boards had unanimously approved the deal, in which EDS shareholders would get $25 per share. That is a premium of almost 25 percent over what EDS had been trading on Friday. Word of the talks emerged Monday.
It would be HP's biggest deal in six years.
HP is the world's largest maker of personal computers, and Texas-based EDS provides technology services to the governments and companies around the world.
The sale is expected to close in the second half of this year and more than double HP's revenue from services, which was $16.6 billion in 2007. EDS had $22.13 billion in revenue last year.
