Sometimes, its not the deal, but how the deal is done which makes things fun to track. Looking for something to write about MCI-VZ deal, I stumbled upon this little nugget. Lawrence Babbio Jr, the vice chairman and president of Verizon seems to have known MCI CEO Michael Capellas for a long time. For instance, back in the day when Capellas was trying to save Compaq, Babbio sat on the board of that company. Then later, when HP, bought Compaq, Babbio got a board seat at HP. Michael Capellas was #2 there. Now Capellas and Babbio have been reunited. At Verizon! A(MCI+VZ deal) = B (Babbio) + C (Capellas) Little conspiracy theory thinking here. Carly gets fired from HP on Febraury 9. Four days later MCI decides to sell out to Verizon. Capellas is free man. He goes and takes over the open slot at HP. After all, he still is a PC guy? Of course, these are musings of an idle mind!