HP merger report author Ram Kumar lied about degree

Ram Kumar, 33, the report’s author, had told Rockland,Maryland-based Institutional Shareholder Services, which advises shareholders on corporate voting issues such as the Hewlett-Packard merger, that he graduated from the University of Southern California law school.

But about two hours after his employers read an article in SmartMoney Magazine saying that he had dropped out without graduating, Kumar, a 4-year veteran at Institutional Shareholder Services and senior analyst, was out of a job, spokesman Pat McGurn said. Kumar could not immediately be reached for comment.

“He did not have the degree. We verified that with the university,” McGurn said. “He had told us he had, during the hiring process.”

Kumar quit Institutional Shareholder Services on September 17, the company said. “He was given an option to resign or to be terminated, and he elected to submit a letter of resignation,” McGurn said. Kumar penned a closely watched report which backed Hewlett-Packard ’s proposal to acquire Compaq in the largest-ever merger in the technology sector, measured by revenue.

The margin of victory in the March shareholder vote, which capped a heated battle, was 2.8 per cent, a fraction of the votes analysts had said would follow Institutional Shareholder Services’s recommendation.

“Ram was the lead analyst, handled setting the meetings and drafted the original report, but it was an organisational decision and it was an organisational position that we still stand behind today,” McGurn said of the decision on Hewlett-Packard .

“There is no question in our mind that there was no taint to that report or any of the others he wrote,” he said.