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HPaQ deal will 'create chaos – Jack Welch

No wonder EU waves it through

Neutron Jack Welch, the titanic former boss of GE, forecasts chaos, if the HP/Compaq merger goes through.

He reckons that competitors want the deal to go ahead - that's why no tried to stop the EU from waving the merger through competition scrutiny.

Welch passed judgement on the controversial merger in front of HP CEO Carly Fiorina on CNBC today.

"Your competitors want this deal to go through. It will create chaos. They will clean both your clocks while you're doing all this. That's the one argument that rang a bell with me," he told her, Reuters reports.

Fiorina said the objection was old hat, and made by competitors ever since the proposed deal was first announced in September.

It must have come as a nasty shock for Fiorina, as Welch was thought to be pro-merger. Certainly, he is not pro Walter Hewlett, the HP board member who is leading the battle to derail the acquisition. As a board member, Hewlett Jr's action was "unpardonable, it's a sin", he told Business Week recently.

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