Detailing the merger

(CNN) -- Following are details of Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and the proposed merged company:

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard was founded as a company in 1939. Its first product however was released in 1938 -- the resistance capacity audio oscillator (HP 200A), an electronic instrument used to test sound equipment.

Walt Disney ordered eight HP 200B oscillators for the production of Fantasia.

From humble beginnings, HP expanded into a huge worldwide company, employing 88,500 employees worldwide (as of October 31, 2000).

Its businesses include personal computers, imaging and printers, software, networking equipment, research and development.

In the last four quarters, HP's total revenues were $47 billion with assets of $32.4 billion. Its operating earnings for the same period were $2.1 billion.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, it has more than 450 sales and support offices and distributorships worldwide in more than 120 countries.

Its Chairman, President and CEO is Carelton (Carly) S. Fiorina, 46, formerly of Lucent Technologies.

Compaq

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By comparison, Compaq Computer Corporation was founded much later, in 1982.

The first product was a portable personal computer designed to run all of the software being developed for the IBM PC.

In its first year, Compaq shipped more than 53,000 portable PCs. Its initial public offering raised $67 million and its securities traded on NASDAQ.

The company's Web site says it is the leading global provider of enterprise technology and solutions.

Its main business is in consumer and corporate PCs, handheld devices workstations and servers.

Its products are sold in more than 200 countries.

The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Its CEO Michael Capellas, from Oracle Businesses, took over from Ben Rosen in September last year.

In the last four quarters, Compaq's total revenues were $40.4 billion with assets of $23.9 billion. Its operating earnings for the same period were $1.9 billion.

The 'new HP'

The new merged company will be headquartered in Palo Alto, though some operations will be kept at Compaq's Houston headquarters.

Fiorina will be the CEO, with Capella as president.

The new HP will be divided into four divisions: Imaging and Printing, Access Devices (PDAs, handhelds etc), Information Technology Infrastructure, and Services.

With a combined revenue of $87.4 billion in the last four quarters, the new HP will have operations in more than 160 countries with over 145,000 employees.

According to a news release, the merger is expected to generate cost synergies of $2.0 billion in fiscal 2003 (the first full year of operations). Fully realized synergies are expected to reach a run rate of $2.5 billion by mid-fiscal 2004.