Found this story on Slashdot this morning...
HP CEO Carly Fiorina, in a USA Today article (14th January), has said that the company may have to get out of the PC business if the merger with Compaq fails to go through.
She implied that HP needs Compaq in order to save its printing and imaging business. Even "spinning off" the PC unit would not be a viable option for the company. The only option is to fix [the PC business] via the merger, she told USA Today.
That position conflicts with earlier statements by Fiorina, in which she told the Reuters news agency that "The marketplace is obsessed with PCs. And [the merger with Compaq] actually isn't a PC deal. It's about enterprise computing and professional services."
Internal opponents emphasize layoffs associated with the merger. But Fiorina told USA Today that the closure of the PC business resulting from a failed merger would involve even more layoffs than would occur with a successful merger.
News source: Interex (the global HP user's group)
View: USA Today (14th January 2002) - Money - Fiorina: HP needs Compaq merger
