The acquisition, which has been approved by both companies’ boards, should bolster HP’s data center strategy and, thanks to 3Com’s routing business, intensify competition with rival Cisco (CSCO), which has lately been expanding into HP’s businesses.

“Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor,” Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Servers and Networking, HP, said in a statement.

“By acquiring 3Com,” Donatelli added, “we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry. By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com’s extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center.”

Below, the official release:

HP to Acquire 3Com for $2.7 Billion
Will create networking industry powerhouse with a proven, edge-to-data center set of solutions and global reach

PALO ALTO, Calif., and MARLBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 11, 2009

HP and 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) (”3Com”) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase 3Com, a leading provider of networking switching, routing and security solutions, at a price of $7.90 per share in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $2.7 billion. The terms of the transaction have been approved by the HP and 3Com boards of directors.

This combination will transform the networking industry and underscore HP’s next-generation data center strategy built on the convergence of servers, storage, networking, management, facilities and services. The resulting business outcome will help customers simplify the network, deploy a unique and innovative edge-to-core network fabric for the enterprise and improve IT service delivery capabilities, all delivered with best-in-class price-performance.

“Companies are looking for ways to break free from the business limitations imposed by a networking paradigm that has been dominated by a single vendor,” said Dave Donatelli, executive vice president and general manager, Enterprise Servers and Networking, HP. “By acquiring 3Com, we are accelerating the execution of our Converged Infrastructure strategy and bringing disruptive change to the networking industry. By combining HP ProCurve offerings with 3Com’s extensive set of solutions, we will enable customers to build a next-generation network infrastructure that supports customer needs from the edge of the network to the heart of the data center.”

“Our extensive product line and innovative technology together with HP’s breadth and scale will expand our global opportunity,” said Bob Mao, chief executive officer, 3Com. “3Com’s networking products are based on a modern architecture which has been designed to offer better performance, require less power and eliminate administrative complexity when compared against current network offerings. Our products are enterprise proven and widely deployed in the world’s largest banks, manufacturers, Internet service providers, public utilities and retailers.”

The acquisition of 3Com will dramatically expand HP’s Ethernet switching offerings, add routing solutions and significantly strengthen the company’s position in China–one of the world’s fastest-growing markets–via the H3C offerings. In addition, the combination will add a large and talented research and development team in China that will drive the acceleration of innovations to HP’s networking solutions.

3Com also brings to HP best-of-breed network security capabilities through its TippingPoint portfolio. For the past four years, TippingPoint has been the leader in Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant” in its evaluation of leading network security products. Approximately 30 percent of the Fortune 1000 companies have already deployed TippingPoint intrusion prevention systems.

“We are confident that we can run our entire global business of 300,000-plus employees, including our next-generation data centers, entirely on the new HP networking solutions,” said Randy Mott, executive vice president and chief information officer, HP. “Based on our experience and extensive testing of 3Com’s products, we are planning to undertake a global rollout within HP as soon as possible after the completion of the acquisition.”

Under the terms of the merger agreement, 3Com stockholders will receive $7.90 for each share of 3Com common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of 3Com’s stockholders. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar 2010.

HP anticipates that the transaction will be slightly dilutive to fiscal 2010 non-GAAP earnings.

Anyway, here it is in all its keep-your-head- in-the-sand glory.

yahoos,

today carl icahn announced his intent to nominate a slate of 10 directors to take control of our board of directors at this year’s annual meeting. we sent him a letter in response, which we made public in a press release. i’m attaching a copy of that press release, including the full text of our letter, and you should read it carefully.

we always want to hear the views of our stockholders, but you should know that mr. icahn’s letter reflects a significant misunderstanding of the facts about the microsoft proposal and the diligence with which our board evaluated and responded to that proposal. we believe our board has the independence, knowledge, experience and commitment to maximize value for all of our stockholders. yahoo is a great company with a truly unique set of highly valuable assets that is growing, profitable and executing well on its strategic plan to enhance our leadership position in online advertising. our solid results for the first quarter of 2008 are a testament to this.

today’s events will undoubtedly draw a lot of media attention and there will be lots of speculation about what happens next for yahoo. i ask all of you to put aside the rumors and speculation and stay focused on the business at hand and what we do best — transforming the online experiences of our users, advertisers, publishers and developers.

i know you all have a lot of questions and so i’ve also attached some faqs that will address some of your questions. as we’ve said before we’ll do our best to continue to update you as new information becomes available. thank you again for your continued hard work as we work together to make yahoo a stronger leader in the online marketplace and an even better company.

jerry

FAQ

Can stockholders nominate directors to the board?
Stockholders, as equity owners of the Company, have the ability to nominate one or more directors for election to a board at the Company’s annual meeting as long as they comply with the requirements contained in our bylaws. Under our bylaws, today was the last day that a stockholder could nominate a candidate for director.

How long will all this take?

We can’t speculate on how events will develop at this time, but we plan to hold our annual meeting in a couple of months. I’d ask all of you to stay focused on the business at hand and what we do best — transforming the experiences of our users, advertisers, publishers and developers, all while enhancing our leadership position in the online marketplace.

What’s our next step?
We will file preliminary proxy materials with the SEC that will describe the matters to be voted on, including the Company’s nominees for election to the board, and the board’s recommendation. Once those materials are cleared by the SEC, we will mail them to our stockholders.

In the meantime, we should remain focused on doing what we do best — transforming the experiences of our users, advertisers, publishers and developers, all while enhancing our leadership position in the online marketplace.

We will continue to update you as information becomes available but please remember that we are subject to various legal restrictions on what we can say and when we can say it.

What can employees do?
We ask you to continue to put aside all rumors and speculation you may be hearing. None of us should allow external reports to shift our focus away from doing what we do best — transforming the experiences of our users, advertisers, publishers and developers, all while enhancing our leadership position in the online marketplace.