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Telecomunicaciones y tecnología

HP says to buy Palm for $1.2 billion


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co said it has struck a deal to buy Palm Inc for $1.2 billion, offering a 23 percent premium to expand into the smartphone market.

    The news comes after much speculation on Wall Street about the future of Palm, which once dominated the market but which has been overshadowed by rivals like Apple Inc's iPhone or Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

    Under the deal approved by the two companies' boards of directors, HP will pay $5.70 cash per share of Palm, a 23 percent premium to its closing price on Wednesday of $4.63.

    Palm's current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company, HP said in a statement, adding that it expects the acquisition to close during its third fiscal quarter ending July 31.

    Some investment banking sources had thought that Lenovo <0992.HK> was the leading candidate to buy Palm after the U.S. firm was rebuffed by other potential Asian buyers including HTC Corp <2498.TW> and Huawei .

    (Reporting by Tiffany Wu; editing by Carol Bishopric)