Hewlett-Packard appears to have given up its quest to buy all or part of data-storage company EMC. On Wednesday, Palo Alto-based HP said it was resuming its temporarily suspended stock-repurchase program because it was no longer in possession of “material non-public information,” common corporate code that often references the possible purchase of another company.
A decision by Hewlett-Packard to resume buying back its shares most likely signals that it has ended talks to merge with the data storage provider EMC. In a short announcement on Wednesday, HP said it was resuming its existing stock repurchase program, suspended during its third fiscal quarter because it possessed “material nonpublic information.” The resumption of the share buybacks was because the company no longer had that information. People briefed on the matter have said HP had been in talks to merge with EMC for months, which would have led to the creation of a big new technology titan. Still, the negotiations were difficult and halted several times over a number of issues, including price.
