EDS stockholders approve HP merger

The acquisition of EDS Corp. by Hewlett-Packard Co. cleared another hurdle today when EDS stockholders voted to approve the $14 billion deal.Now all that is left is are approvals from certain non-U.S. and non-European Union jurisdictions as well as meeting some closing conditions specific in the merger agreement.During its shareholder's meeting in Plano, Texas, nearly 99 percent of the shareholders present voted to approve the deal. The votes represented about 72 percent of EDS' shares.HP announced last week that the deal would not close before Aug. 18 as it worked out a settlement with EDS shareholders who wanted to be paid their dividends due in September.The transaction will more than double HP's services revenue, which amounted to $16.6 billion in fiscal 2007, HP said when the deal was announced in May. EDS will become a new business group to be branded EDS ? an HP company.