Speaker 1: Let's take a quick look at shares of HPE and
Speaker 1: Juniper Networks. The DOJ yesterday announcing it's suing to stop
Speaker 1: the fourteen billion dollar acquisition of Juniper Networks, arguing the
Speaker 1: merger would harm competition in the market for enterprise wireless equipment.
Speaker 1: We're rallying off the back of some fools yesterday joining
Speaker 1: us now, Antonio Nairy, HPE CEO, and you have fought
Speaker 1: back saying the DOJ is ignoring key competitors here. Why
Speaker 1: are they doing that?
Speaker 2: Welcome on to Kara, and thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: We believe the thesis from the EJ is flawed because
Speaker 2: they consider the market very narrowly in the wireless line,
Speaker 2: only three competitors, when the reality there are eight. You know,
Speaker 2: even industry analysts came out yesterday, you know, stating that
Speaker 2: that's the case. So as we go in through the process,
Speaker 2: we understood that that's going to be a challenge, but
Speaker 2: ultimately we believe there is no case here. This is
Speaker 2: pro competitive. We'll bring it too complementary technologies together, which
Speaker 2: so will enable us to compete outside the United States.
Speaker 2: In the context of the previous conversation we have with
Speaker 2: Josh against the Chinese vendors in the context of national security,
Speaker 2: particularly in cloud and the service provider space. So that's
Speaker 2: why we're going to fight this vigorously and we believe
Speaker 2: we're going to prevail through the process.
Speaker 1: Do your lawyers think you will prevail? It's interesting, of
Speaker 1: course other regulators signed this off, so it must have
Speaker 1: been a surprise.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a surprise because fourteen of these sixteen
Speaker 2: jurisdictions around the globe approved the deal pretty much by
Speaker 2: September last year, which was very very quick. You know,
Speaker 2: since the announcement was January nine, twenty twenty fourth, and
Speaker 2: that included in the UK and the European Union. They
Speaker 2: never asked for a second request. Customer testimony was always
Speaker 2: in favor of the transaction, and that's why, you know,
Speaker 2: since September we were pretty much substantially complete with the
Speaker 2: DJA process. But obviously it's through the elections and the
Speaker 2: like we took us to today and then you know,
Speaker 2: when I meet with the DOJ on Tuesday, nothing new
Speaker 2: came out of that conversation, and therefore, you know, we
Speaker 2: are surprised and disappointed, but ultimately we believe this is
Speaker 2: pro competitive and we believe this is the interested on
Speaker 2: the national security in alignment with the current administration agenda,
Speaker 2: and that's why from a puran the trust perspective, we
Speaker 2: believe we have a case here for us.
Speaker 3: And tell you, did you try in the course of
Speaker 3: those conversations with the Justice Department ahead of the losses
Speaker 3: being filed to negotiate something or perhaps offer concessions. What
Speaker 3: might those have been and what did DOJ ask you for?
Speaker 2: No, it was not necessary and the DOJ never asked
Speaker 2: for any concessions whatsoever. They asked us through the process
Speaker 2: several extensions, but we never discussed remediation or any concessions
Speaker 2: as part of the proval.
Speaker 3: Are you a little surprised them by the current administration
Speaker 3: actually following through with this case. You pointed to its
Speaker 3: posture when it comes to competitiveness in the US and
Speaker 3: trying to foster investment. How does this square with what
Speaker 3: the President, for instance, would be talking about when it
Speaker 3: comes to business.
Speaker 2: Well, Mike, we don't have yet the permanent leaders, neither
Speaker 2: of the DOJ nor at the Antitrust Division, so we're
Speaker 2: looking forward to have them on board. We hope that
Speaker 2: they will take a second look at the case and
Speaker 2: realize that this transaction is core tech, no big tech.
Speaker 2: Remember that both Juniper Networks and HP powers a lot
Speaker 2: of the United States infrastructure in the Department of Defense,
Speaker 2: Department of Energy, and many other administrations across the government.
Speaker 2: And so we're hopeful that when the administration is in charge,
Speaker 2: they're going to look at this and take a second
Speaker 2: look and realize this is aligned perfectly with the agenda
Speaker 2: that the President has America First, building the United States.
Speaker 2: Let's remind yourself a lot of the equipment that HP
Speaker 2: produces today for the United State governments building the United
Speaker 2: States and also outside the United States to compete with China.
Speaker 2: The reason why the market looks the way it looks
Speaker 2: in the United States, which is eight vendors, and this
Speaker 2: is data from the industry analysts, which we provided obviously
Speaker 2: tremendous amount of documentation, is because Worldwide is not allowed
Speaker 2: to play in the United States, but when you go
Speaker 2: outside the United States, they're actually nine menders.
Speaker 1: It does feel like China continues to be the bogeyman
Speaker 1: that a lot of companies are going to turn on
Speaker 1: to try and get things through. And ultimately I put
Speaker 1: to you that James McHenry, who's the acting Attorneys General
Speaker 1: at the moment in the US, probably want to pursue
Speaker 1: this and as it got some sort of sign off
Speaker 1: from the new administration, more pro business administration. So do
Speaker 1: you think really this is going to land any differently
Speaker 1: with Hamboni.
Speaker 2: We don't know, Karen. I will not speak related to that.
Speaker 2: Excuse me for my voice. I will not speculate in that.
Speaker 2: You know, we have dealt with the Department of Energy
Speaker 2: Anti Trust Division. We were very collaborative, constructive throughout the process,
Speaker 2: and we hope that the new administration one is in charge,
Speaker 2: they're going to look at this and they will bring
Speaker 2: us back at the table. Otherwise, you know, we will
Speaker 2: pursue the actions through the court. They were the ones
Speaker 2: decided to file the lawsuit to block the transaction, and
Speaker 2: we believe we have the right to defend ourselves there
Speaker 2: and we believe that we can prevail through the just
Speaker 2: the anti trust aspect of the case. And then in
Speaker 2: addition to that, we hope that also the national security
Speaker 2: aspects of this are considered as well.
Speaker 3: Hpe CEO Antonio Neri, thank you.