Who Is The Winner In 3PAR HP $2.35 Billion Deal?
Recently Hewlett-Packard agreed to buy 3PAR for $2.35 billion. 3PAR makes high-end computer storage systems and this company looked like a must have trophy wife for two rivals. For a few weeks there was quite a bidding war between HP and Dell. The bidding war started with Dell offering $18 a share and eventually HP winning the deal by offering $33 a share. Back in 2007 3PAR went public at $14 a share. What a fantastic deal this should have been for company founders! Not many people realize that founders of start-ups such as 3PAR by the time of the exit only own 2% – 5% of company’s shares. Jeffrey Price, one of the founders will get $41.4 million for his 2% ownership. That is correct he is one of the early owners founders and he only owns 2% of the company. Mr. Ashok Singhal who owns less than 1% shares of the company will walk away with $18.8 million. At the time of the deal it was unknown about the ownership percentage of the third founder Robert Rogers. The guess is he owns peanuts.
