For Compaq
Alumni (Updated
Oct 7, 2022.)
Website operated by volunteers. Not officially endorsed or supported. Comments:
info@hpalumni.org
Key contact:
The HP Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for HP Inc U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that Hewlett-Packard acquired before Nov 1, 2015 (Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.) and that HP Inc acquired later (Poly, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-457-4015 (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Don't go to a local Fidelity office.)
Select the links below that fit your situation...
- Current HP or HPE employee:
Networking and Information for Current Employees. Join
Ex-Compaq* group on LinkedIn.
- HP or HPE employee in the process of leaving: use the
ASAP
checklist. Join
Ex-Compaq* and
"HP Connections" on LinkedIn
- Former Compaq employee who never worked for
HP: Join
Ex-Compaq*
group on LinkedIn.
(The
Ex-Compaq group on LinkedIn is operated by Compaq
alumni, not by the HPAA.)
If you got a letter from Social Security entitled "Potential Private Retirement Benefit." Look at the "Year Reported" and the table on the back of the letter. If "Type of Benefit" is "A" -- you rolled to a different plan, bought an annuity, or took cash. How to decode and what to do:
https://www.hpalumni.org/PotentialBenefitLetter.
Compaq 401(k) plan #001:
- Name: "Compaq Computer Corporation 401(k) Investment Plan"
- EIN: 76-0011617 Plan number: 001 ("EIN" = IRS Employer
Identification Number)
- Abbreviated as: 76-0011617-001
- Administrator:
The HP Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for HP Inc U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that Hewlett-Packard acquired before Nov 1, 2015 (Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.) and that HP Inc acquired later (Poly, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-457-4015 (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Don't go to a local Fidelity office.)
- Previous administrator before Compaq
was sold to HP -- Vanguard.
- Be sure you have a valid beneficiary designation on file
at Fidelity.
- Benefits under 401(k) plans are not insured by the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC.)
- For details of the plan, see the
last SEC report on the Compaq 401(k) Plan
(from 2002, the year that Compaq was sold to HP.)
Compaq 401(k) plan #002:
- Name: "NetWorth Inc 401K Pension Plan" [Compaq
acquired NetWorth Inc of Irving, TX in 1995.]
- EIN: 76-0011617 Plan number: 002 ("EIN" = IRS Employer
Identification Number)
- Abbreviated as: 76-0011617-002
- Administrator: The HP Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for HP Inc U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that Hewlett-Packard acquired before Nov 1, 2015 (Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.) and that HP Inc acquired later (Poly, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-457-4015 (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Don't go to a local Fidelity office.)
- Previous administrator before Compaq
was sold to HP -- unknown.
- Be sure you have a valid beneficiary designation on file
at Fidelity.
- Benefits under 401(k) plans are not insured by the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC.)
- Cannot find a
Form 5500 report filed since January 1, 2010 on this
plan.
HP's purchase of Compaq was closed on May 3, 2002. Compaq shareholders received 0.6325 share of HPQ in exchange for
each CPQ share -- 18% over market price. CPQ stock was retired. HWP stock symbol
changed to HPQ.
HP Breakup. On Nov 1, 2015, the legal name of the Hewlett-Packard Company was changed to HP Inc.
and a new, completely separate company -- Hewlett Packard
Enterprise (no hyphen; green-rectangle logo) -- was
spun out. Portions of HPE were later spun out into DXC and Micro
Focus, which have spun out other companies:
HP Breakup
HP Inc. is the legal successor to the companies acquired by Hewlett-Packard before the company was
split into HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise on Nov 1, 2005. Responsibility for commitments to former employees of Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc. remain with HP Inc. -- regardless of whether
their last business unit ended up in HP or HPE. Includes employment verification and
any retiree health, pension, etc. plans.
Which HP-related companies have me classified as a retiree or former employee?
Given HP's history of acquisitions and spinoffs, this may not be obvious. If any doubt, check here:
Which Company
Contacts at HP Inc. -- the successor company:
HP contacts
Make sure that the legal successor to every company you ever worked for has your current postal address.
Even if not classified by the company as a "Retiree" or
if long gone -- in case of pension plan changes, employment
lawsuits, settlements, or other issues. Update address at former
company
Update and strengthen your LinkedIn profile. Even if not
currently looking, you
need a strong, credible profile on LinkedIn. People check you out before
working with you. Recruiters run searches for particular skills and
background. In addition,
LinkedIn helps you reconnect with people who know you and your work.
Check your profile. LinkedIn has been standardizing company names, with odd results. Recruiters view illogical entries -- such as HPE positions before 2015 -- as fake.
(HPE changed many decades-old HP positions to display the HPE name and
logo.) Watch for typos, like "principle engineer." You may wish
to emphasize (or de-emphasize) some of your experience and background.
Tricks and
traps:
hpalumni.org/LinkedIn
Time to untangle your stock!
Depending on when and how you acquired HP or HPE stock, you may now have stock in up to six completely separate HP-related companies in
various accounts -- or have missed cash payouts. How many shares of which HP-related companies should I have? How much
cash should I have received?
hpalumni.org/stock
HPAA's detailed Stock Decoder tables for:
Compaq
DEC
Tandem
If you bought CPQ shares under the Compaq employee stock purchase
plan, those shares were automatically converted to HPQ shares at the
time of the merger. Unless you have sold or transferred them, the shares
(and your corresponding new Hewlett Packard Enterprise and other spinoff
shares) are being held by the last administrator of the plan, Morgan
Stanley Smith Barney -- which is no longer being paid by the company for
this work.
Details and
HPAA advice for former CPQ employee shareholders
Morgan Stanley customers are getting different results from different
divisions of the company -- depending on whether they were
participants in the Compaq Employee Stock Purchase Plan or had
transferred their HP stock to a personal account at Morgan Stanley's
local-office-based retail brokerage division.
Morgan Stanley issues reported by members
Service at predecessor companies. Of HP's many
predecessor companies, only HP and DEC had retiree healthcare programs.
Only HP, DEC, and EDS had pension plans. Over the years, HP, DEC, and
EDS set aside money in dedicated trust funds to pay for those programs.
Compaq, Tandem, Autonomy, etc. did not have retiree healthcare or
pensions among their benefits programs. Their employees did not have
those expectations and there were no corresponding trust funds to pass
on to an acquiring company. Therefore, employees of those companies do
not get credit under HP's retiree healthcare or pension programs for
service at the predecessor.
(DEC employees get retiree health
credit for DEC and HP service but not Compaq service.) Predecessor service counts for vacation/FTO. Details:
DEC
EDS
Employment verification and experience letters for
Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and related
companies.
Employment and Experience Verification
Reconnect, celebrate the good times, and appreciate those who have
passed. Social groups on Facebook for HP, Boise, Corvallis, Cupertino,
Medical Group, Response Center, Santa Rosa, Southern California, EDS, DEC, Tandem, and Compaq.
Private, independent online forums operated and moderated by people from each community.
Directory of leading HP-related Facebook groups:
https://www.hpalumni.org/facebook
Compaq news:
- October 25, 1991: "The Day Everything Changed at Compaq"
LinkedIn "Pulse" article by Sean Burke
- "Open: How Compaq Ended IBM's PC
Domination and Helped Invent Modern Computing" – by Rod
Canion. "...a series of risky and daring decisions – often
facing criticism and incredulity – that allowed the open PC
standard marketplace to thrive and the incredible benefits
of open computing to be realized." BenBella Books (October
15, 2013) ASIN:
1937856992 Author's website:
The
Compaq Story
- Documentary based on Rod Canion's "Open"
-- "Silicon
Cowboys"
Other links:
-
Contacts for
former HP and HPE employees
Compaq history:
-
Compaq company history (via the Internet Archive)
- Gordon Bell's
Compaq/DEC timeline
- Compaq
Wikipedia article – with references and links. Note:
Wikipedia articles change over time, may not cover all aspects of the
topic consistently, and may not be written from a neutral point of view.
Operated by volunteers. Not officially endorsed or supported.
More about
the HPAA
Rod Canion, Jim Harris, and Bill
Murto – 1982.
