H-P's Last Chance

The WSJ has a fascinating behind the scenes look at how H-P's acquisition of Autonomy went down.  It's a must read for anyone who thinks about acquisitions.  Issues were raised in diligence related to potential accounting irregularities but they never made up to the board level.  Had they, would that have been enough to slow down the train.  The internal dynamics driving H-P to make this acquisition suggest that perhaps not.  That's part of what makes acquisitions so interesting.  All rational analysis aside, sometimes large transactions pick up their own momentum and they become difficult - if not impossible - for those close to it to stop.

-bjmq