HP is high bidder for Interex mailing list, database

03.11.2005
Hewlett-Packard Co. was the high bidder in the sale of the now defunct Interex user group's customer database and mailing list. The company will pay US$66,500 for the list and was one of three bidders in the bankruptcy-court-sanctioned sale.

Interex, the Sunnyvale Calif.-based user group that had claimed 100,000 members, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in July after canceling HP World, its annual user conference. Interex closed after incurring about $4 million in debt.

The bidding process came after Genisys Corp., a Redmond, Wash.-based reseller of refurbished HP hardware, offered to buy the list for $15,000.

Bidding was conducted at the end of October, and one of the three bidders was Genisys. The third bidder wasn't identified in court papers filed Oct. 31 that announced the bid results.

By buying what are, in effect, the records of its own customers, HP saw its bid as something akin to a white knight. The purchase "was a clear demonstration of our commitment to protecting all our customers' personal information," said Don Gentile, a spokesman for the company.

The Interex bankruptcy came after HP decided to hold its own technology conference. Two other HP user groups, Encompass and OpenView Forum, decided to jointly sponsor the HP conference. The HP Technology Forum was held last month in Orlando.