Hewlett Packard Co

Hewlett-Packard Co. supplied information to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about how the company obtained private phone records during an investigation of media leaks. The committee asked for information about HP's probe Sept. 11 after the Palo Alto-based company acknowledged that its investigators used fake identities to collect the private phone records of two employees, some directors and nine journalists. The House is investigating the practice, which is called pretexting.

Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's largest personal-computer maker, valued Chief Executive Mark Hurd's pay last year at $42.5 million, including bonuses from previous years. Hurd received $1.5 million in salary, a $5.3-million bonus, $12.9 million in stock awards and $18.6 million in non-stock incentive plan compensation, the Palo Alto company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. He also received $4.2 million in option awards, pension payments and expenses.

Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to announce today that it has signed an agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to create made-to-order DVDs of some of the studio's movies and TV shows. The agreement, whose terms were not disclosed, boosts Palo Alto-based HP's ambition to play the middleman in the future of how entertainment is distributed.

Hewlett-Packard Co. said late Wednesday that it has settled with the New York Times and three BusinessWeek journalists who were spied on as part of the company's boardroom surveillance scheme. The Palo Alto-based computer and printer maker would not disclose the payment made in the settlement, nor would the lawyer representing the Times, one of its reporters, John Markoff, and BusinessWeek reporters Peter Burrows, Ben Elgin and Roger Crockett.

Hewlett-Packard Co. on Tuesday bucked the recent downbeat trend of other high-tech bellwethers, reporting a 38% jump in first-quarter profit. The Palo Alto-based technology company also raised its forecast for the full year. Its confidence surprised analysts, who have worried about the effect of a possible U.S. recession on high-tech in the wake of pessimistic forecasts from Cisco Systems Inc., Ingram Micro Inc. and others.

Stocks and bonds Wednesday shook off a surprising jump in consumer price inflation and another record close for oil prices. Stocks finished broadly higher and long-term Treasury yields ended flat to lower as a strong belief that the Federal Reserve would continue to cut short-term interest rates trumped other worries. The Dow Jones industrials gained 90.04 points, or 0.7%, to 12,427.

A self-described "little guy" in the corporate spying scandal at Hewlett-Packard Co. will plead guilty today to federal conspiracy and identity theft charges -- an admission that could spark more deal-making in a case that has riveted Silicon Valley. Private investigator Bryan Wagner of Littleton, Colo., will face as many as five years in prison after his plea in U.S. District Court in San Jose, said his lawyer, Stephen Naratil.

Sentencing was set for June 20 in the case of a private investigator who pleaded guilty to identity theft and conspiracy charges in the federal investigation of Hewlett-Packard Co.'s ill-fated boardroom spying probe. Bryan Wagner, 29, of Littleton, Colo., pleaded guilty to the two felony counts during his initial appearance in San Jose federal court.

The offer by state prosecutors to drop felony charges against those implicated in the corporate spying scandal at Hewlett Packard Co. could be a sign that the case against them may be weak. Or, it could indicate that federal authorities are prepared to mount their own case against former HP Chairwoman Patricia C. Dunn and three others. One investigator hired by HP has already pleaded guilty to federal felony counts of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.