????假如惠普（Hewlett-Packard）與大型數(shù)據(jù)儲存服務(wù)商EMC合并，將對首席執(zhí)行官梅格?惠特曼重振惠普的計劃起到怎樣的作用？業(yè)界也許永遠也不會知道這個問題的答案，因為據(jù)《華爾街日報》（The Wall Street Journal）報道，斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地磋商了近一年后，雙方的談判無果而終。

????《華爾街日報》周日晚間稱，據(jù)匿名消息人士透露，兩家公司已不太可能再次商討合并事項。雙方原本可能完全以換股方式進行合并，合并后總市值預(yù)計超過1280億美元?！度A爾街日報》同時指出，有報道稱總部位于美國馬薩諸塞州霍普金頓的EMC公司還與戴爾（Dell）進行了合并談判。另外，思科系統(tǒng)公司和甲骨文公司也曾被指有意跟EMC聯(lián)姻。

????相關(guān)報道表明，惠普和EMC談判破裂，是因為擔心無法獲得股東支持，雙方無法就合并的財務(wù)條款達成一致。

????今年夏天《財富》雜志曾報道，激進股東、對沖基金公司Elliott Management（下稱Elliott）的公開呼吁，使EMC最近一直承受著拆分壓力。今年7月，Elliott公布了對EMC的10億美元投資。EMC持有上市軟件開發(fā)商VMware公司80%的股份，而Elliott一直在催促EMC將該資產(chǎn)剝離出去，以便提升EMC的股票價值。今夏媒體首次報道Elliott投資EMC以來，EMC的股價已經(jīng)上漲了近10.7%，今年初以來的漲幅更是超過了18%。

????EMC的未來還和首席執(zhí)行官喬?圖斯的退休計劃糾纏在一起。長期以來一直擔任該公司CEO的圖斯表示，在掌權(quán)近14年后，他將在明年初退休。但此前圖斯曾經(jīng)推遲過退休時間。

????此外，惠特曼[她在《財富》雜志最新一期最具影響力商界女性排行榜上位居第6]重申，惠普的扭虧行動要到2016年才會結(jié)束。不過，最近公布的第三季度銷售數(shù)字，確實出現(xiàn)了三年多以來的首次增長。盡管惠普打算把重心轉(zhuǎn)移到云計算等增長領(lǐng)域，但該公司的計算機銷售也出現(xiàn)了回升，第三季度上升了11.6%。近幾年，EMC也在設(shè)法擴大自身云軟件服務(wù)規(guī)模，包括在2007年收購了云備份服務(wù)供應(yīng)商Mozy。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：Charlie

????How would a mega-merger with massive data-storage company EMC Corporation have played into Meg Whitman’s ongoing turnaround project at Hewlett-Packard? The business world may never get an answer, with merger talks between the two companies reportedly dead after nearly a year of sporadic discussions, according to The Wall Street Journal.

????Citing anonymous sources, WSJ said on Sunday evening as saying it was unlikely the deal talks would rekindle in what could have been an all-stock merger bringing together two companies with a combined market value of more than $128 billion. EMC has also reportedly held deal talks with Dell, while Cisco Systems and Oracle Corporation have also been cited as potential suitors for the Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based company, WSJ says.

????Reports suggest that deal talks between HP and EMC fell apart due to concerns over shareholder support as well as the companies’ inability to reach an agreement on financial terms of a potential deal.

????As Fortunenoted over the summer, EMC has recently been under pressure to break itself apart following a public appeal from an activist shareholder – hedge fund manager Elliott Management, which revealed a $1 billion investment in EMC in July. Elliott had been pushing for a spin-off of EMC’s 80% stake in publicly-traded software VMware as a way to boost EMC’s share value. EMC’s stock has jumped nearly 10.7% since Elliott’s stake was first reported this summer and the company’s shares have gained more than 18% so far this year.

????EMC’s future is also in flux with the expected retirement of longtime CEO Joe Tucci, who has said he will call it quits early next year after about 14 years at the helm, though he has previously delayed his retirement.

????Meanwhile, HP’s Whitman (No. 6 on Fortune’s most recent Most Powerful Women list) has maintained that she would not complete her company’s ongoing turnaround until sometime in 2016, but the company did recently put out third-quarter sales numbers that showed growth for the first time in more than three years. HP’s computer sales have also rebounded, jumping 11.6% in the third quarter, even as the company looks to shift focus to growth areas such as “cloud” computing. EMC has also tried expanding its cloud software services in recent years, including through the 2007 acquisition of cloud-based online backup service Mozy.