After five glorious years at the helm of Hewlett Packard, Hurd had to resign as CEO after being accused of sexual harassment by Jodie Fisher, a previous consultant. He was most recently hired by Oracle as an executive. Oracle is, as fate would have it, a direct competitor with Hp. Hurd is the new co-president of Oracle. Nevertheless, it isn’t easy to jump via one huge tech business to one more. Hewlett Packard is suing Oracle, as it is alleged Oracle can’t hire a previous executive of a competitor, and especially one that signed as numerous confidentiality agreements. Hurd is a giant among men in the tech industry.
Hewlett Packard and Hurd can’t try to be buddies
On Monday, Mark Hurd was announced as the newest addition to Oracle Corp., according to Reuters. Charlie Phillips resigned as co-president, and Hurd can be taking that spot along with a position on the board of directors. Only IBM and Microsoft sell more software than Oracle. Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems earlier this year, placing the business in direct competition with Hp. Hewlett Packard had a high profile bidding war with Dell for 3COM. Hurd resigned in August. He quit after allegations of sexual harassment were through Jodie Fisher, who used to be a consultant for Hp.
Did Oracle divine Hewlett Packard suing them?
Oracle made a bold move by acquiring Sun Microsystems. It made the company a competitor of Hewlett Packard. The lawsuit alleges that Oracle could not legally hire Hurd, according to the NY Times. As CEO of Hp, he has inside information which could breach contracts with Hewlett Packard. Hp benefited greatly when he was employed there. He and Hewlett Packard became serious heavies within the tech industry during his time there. He is sort of a large deal within the tech world. His campaign of aggressive efficiency made a huge difference for Hewlett Packard. Even Oracle knows that. The CEO of Oracle, Lawrence Ellison, compared the departure of Hurd from HP to when Steve Jobs was at first fired by Apple.
There might be a conflict of interest
Hurd does have inside details about Hewlett Packard. That kind of knowledge can come to seriously harm them, and he may not legally be able to disclose it. You will find typically confidentiality clauses in executive contracts. There is no guarantee the lawsuit will go very far. That said, it can be worth it in the end, as Hurd has a reputation for making an awful lot of cash.
Reuters
reuters.com/article/idUSN0724548420100907
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/08/technology/08hewlett.html?src=busln
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