No. The goal of M&A is to increase shareholder value, if the data said acquisitions generally do not do that, we would not have M&A. Your links simply show that some M&A scenarios (major acquisitions, acquisitions that are overpaid for, etc) lead to underperformance, not that M&A as an overarching thing "typically leads to the destruction of shareholder value." Nowhere do those articles say that.
On top of other commenter's remarks, notice I specifically said to acquire companies holding monopolies over aspects of Apple's competition plus opportunities for expansions of current strategies. Hard to imagine a HP/Compaq failure scenario here. Just lost money which the company might loose anyway. Locking in long-term success more might be worth that, though.
[1]http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2012-01-24/large-mergers...
[2]http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/subjects/accountinggro...
[3]http://www.evancarmichael.com/library/stephen-warrilow/Merge...