FREE LAPTOP DEALS

Compaq Computer Corporation was originally an American personal computer company founded in 1982, however due to a merger in 2002 it is now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard (HP).

Compaq was originally formed by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto who were former Texas Instruments senior managers. Each invested $1,000 to form the company. Their first venture capital came from Ben Rosen and Sevin Rosen Funds. Like many small startups with unique beginnings, the original Compaq PC was first sketched out on a placemat by the founders while dining in a local Houston restaurant, House of Pies. The name "COMPAQ" was derived from "Compatibility and Quality".

At the same time as they began to dominate the server market, in the early 1990s Compaq entered the retail computer market with the Presario, and was one of the first manufacturers in the mid-1990s to market a sub-$1000 PC. In order to maintain the prices it wanted, Compaq became the first first-tier computer manufacturer to utilize CPUs from AMD and Cyrix. The price war resulting from Compaq's actions ultimately drove numerous competitors, most notably IBM and Packard Bell, from this market.

In 1997, Compaq bought Tandem Computers and this acquisition instantly gave Compaq a presence in the higher end business computing market. In 1998, Compaq acquired Digital Equipment Corporation, and this acquisition made Compaq, at the time, the second largest computer maker in the world in terms of revenue. Unfortunately for the company, they lacked the vision for what the combined companies should do, or indeed how the three dramatically different cultures could work as a single entity, and Compaq struggled as a result. In 1999 their CEO was forced out in a coup led by board chairman Ben Rosen and Michael Capellas took the new CEO position. Capellas was able to restore some of the lustre lost during these difficult times, but the company still struggled against lower-cost competitors such as Dell.

In 2002, Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard. Numerous large HP shareholders, including William Hewlett, publicly opposed the deal, which resulted in an impassioned public proxy battle between those for and against the deal. The merger was approved only after the narrowest of margins, and allegations of vote buying haunted the new company.

Compaq as a brand of HP is now a major player in the PC and electronics market.