Walter Hewlett runs anti-merger ad

Walter Hewlett launched his first newspaper ad Thursday against the pending mega-merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer, marking yet another move in his proxy battle against the merger. Hewlett, a dissident HP board member, ran his ad in The Wall Street Journal and San Jose Mercury News with a headline that read: "A $25 billion mistake is not the HP way." Hewlett and the companies are expected to ramp up the marketing machine as shareholders prepare to vote on the merger in mid-March.