Former HP exec Mark Hurd hired as Oracle co-president
Mark Hurd, whose departure from HP had been compared to Steve Jobs' exit from Apple in 1985, is headed to Oracle where he will serve as co-president and join the board of directors.
Oracle announced the news late Monday. The hiring adds yet another layer to an already drama-filled Silicon Valley saga.
In early August, HP ousted Hurd amid allegations of financial misconduct and sexual harassment. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a close friend of Hurd's, criticized the decision by comparing the situation to when Jobs, Ellison's "best friend," was forced out of Apple in the 1980s.
"The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," Ellison wrote. "That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them."
By first defending then hiring Hurd, Ellison has now "put his money where his controversial mouth is," wrote Ashlee Vance of The New York Times. Hurd will replace Charles E. Phillips Jr. as co-president. Earlier this year, Phillips admitted to having an affair after a woman he had been seeing made details of their relationship public.
Hurd had been widely praised for his work at HP, where he grew the company into the largest PC maker in the U.S.
In his new role, Hurd will oversee "sales, marketing and software support."
Oracle announced the news late Monday. The hiring adds yet another layer to an already drama-filled Silicon Valley saga.
In early August, HP ousted Hurd amid allegations of financial misconduct and sexual harassment. Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a close friend of Hurd's, criticized the decision by comparing the situation to when Jobs, Ellison's "best friend," was forced out of Apple in the 1980s.
"The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," Ellison wrote. "That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them."
By first defending then hiring Hurd, Ellison has now "put his money where his controversial mouth is," wrote Ashlee Vance of The New York Times. Hurd will replace Charles E. Phillips Jr. as co-president. Earlier this year, Phillips admitted to having an affair after a woman he had been seeing made details of their relationship public.
Hurd had been widely praised for his work at HP, where he grew the company into the largest PC maker in the U.S.
In his new role, Hurd will oversee "sales, marketing and software support."
Comments
Hollywood companies love to use it because everybody wants to be president.... instead of Senior Executive Vice President.
Techapocalypse wrote: ...he was in fact a good leader at HP...
I really can't understand why folks are excited and supportive of this? Hurd's only accomplishment at HP was to slash and burn. How many thousands of employees laid off? How many projects canceled? Sure, he made a bunch of very short term moves that made Wall Street fond of him but he basically undermined everything in place for the longer term. He raped the company for tens of millions and a diamond-studded golden parachute while doing nothing for existing products or the workforce. Am I pissed? You bet I am. Hewlett, Packard, Young, and Platt made that company into a savvy outfit that had better core values before Carly Fornia grabbed the CEO spot and utterly failed, then gave way to this creep Hurd of Cattle. Larry Ellison needs to reflect on who his bosom buddies are.
Whatever happened to Ann Livermore? She would have been much better than Carly and Hurd.
Yes, I know Jobs is great friends with Larry, and no, I'm not going to cite sources. You can easily find that info on the web.
HP is a both a big competitor and a big partner (coopetition) to Oracle. After all, Oracle and HP share one big common enemy: IBM. Hurd brings excellent insight and operational savvy that Oracle has lacked as they now tackle hardware and related businesses that they acquired from Sun. As an ORCL shareholder, I'm pretty stoked about this. I can't say that I was too happy about Oracle's acquisition of Sun as Oracle has absolutely no experience in hardware, but with Hurd on board I'm feeling much better about how Oracle will manage Sun's assets.
I know that Oracle is hated by a lot in this industry and Ellison has made his share of goofball moves in the past, but they've done very well overall. By the way, the other co-president Safra Catz is another key figure in Oracle's growth and success over the past decade or so. She is one smart cookie. She's the one maintaining the financial discipline at Oracle. She's done a tremendous job of integrating all the companies that Oracle has acquired over the past decade. I love smart women.
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/p...ex-070733.html
Anyone that could get HP moving again is worth their weight in gold. Fiorina SCREWED up HP so bad that it took a near miracle to get things right (again). She is all smoke and mirrors, marketing & sales person (and not a very good one at that) that was promoted WAY beyond here level of incompetence.
Now she is running for the Senate here in CA vs. Barbara Boxer. In fact, Carly was already posturing herself for the Senate seat way back when she was at HP. Here she was, CEO of an incredibly well-respected company, and she was always making moves to set herself up for a bid at the Senate.
As much as I despise Boxer, it will hurt almost as much to vote for "Carly". I may just abstain on this one.
HP jumped the gun on Hurd. He really didn't do anything all that wrong, and they panicked and sacked him. All you need is one woman yelling "harassment" or "affair" and people panic. Frankly, unless he was found guilty of harassment, nothing should have happened. As for an "affair", who cares? That's between him and his wife.
HP's board panicked and showed themselves to have little of the nerve needed to steer a ship like HP. Hopefully they will now be crushed in any markets with which they compete with Oracle.
The saddest part of the entire saga is what happened to HP's well revered and respected engineering talent. They used to be THE place for good EE's to work. Fiorina ruined that, because HP's test equipment business just wasn't "hip" enough for her.
Why do executives make the big money? They are the decision makers. The buck stops with them. They answer to the board of directors and the share holders. They also NEVER STOP WORKING. They sacrifice their personal lives. Sure they take vacations but even then they are always working. I've watched them start meetings at 7:30am after a continental breakfast and continue till 8pm and dinner. Then catch an 18 hour flight out of the country and continue working. No one does this for a straight salary. There is luxury, but they deserve it for the work they put in. Sure they fly first class but only because of frequent flier miles. All the executives I know love their jobs. Their jobs are their lives.
Hurd slash and burned HP but only after Compaq bought DEC and HP bought Compaq. So there you have three totally different work cultures crammed together. So he saved HP from self-destruction. DEC's culture was really screwed up internally. Compaq wasn't much better. Oracle has the same problem with Sun. Engineering at Sun was awesome but the sales and marketing was awful. Sun spent more time blogging then they did selling.
Hewlett, Packard, Young, and Platt made that company into a savvy outfit that had better core values before Carly Fornia grabbed the CEO spot and utterly failed, then gave way to this creep Hurd of Cattle.
The word savvy has been absent from HP for decades. Go back and look at the business mix and niche positions HP held years ago and ask why they are now absent. The deterioration occured far before Carly ever came on board. Hurd knows how to cull mediocrity and at least create a decent foundation in which to prosper.
True to life Mad Men. Eccentric, powerful, creative, not afraid of a three martini lunch, womanizing, executives. Oracle is old school. Hurd replaces Philips whose wife or spurned lover bought ad space in Times square blasting his unfaithfulness!
Why do executives make the big money? They are the decision makers. The buck stops with them. They answer to the board of directors and the share holders. They also NEVER STOP WORKING. They sacrifice their personal lives. Sure they take vacations but even then they are always working. I've watched them start meetings at 7:30am after a continental breakfast and continue till 8pm and dinner. Then catch an 18 hour flight out of the country and continue working. No one does this for a straight salary. There is luxury, but they deserve it for the work they put in. Sure they fly first class but only because of frequent flier miles. All the executives I know love their jobs. Their jobs are their lives.
Hurd slash and burned HP but only after Compaq bought DEC and HP bought Compaq. So there you have three totally different work cultures crammed together. So he saved HP from self-destruction. DEC's culture was really screwed up internally. Compaq wasn't much better. Oracle has the same problem with Sun. Engineering at Sun was awesome but the sales and marketing was awful. Sun spent more time blogging then they did selling.
But part of the point of Mad Men, is for us to reflect, is it right for such executives, never mind the pay or perks, is it right, for them to leave such a trail of destruction in their wake? Is this necessary for sustainable business in the 21st century? I'm not saying the Dalai Lama should be the CEO, but.... is there a chance of better corporate culture? Something that doesn't foster such self-destructive behaviour?
Larry saved his (probably drinking and womanising partner-in-crime) buddy ~ I wonder how (or who) Hurd will do at Oracle.
While a good story for Ars Technica or Slashdot or Wired or a host of other tech blogs, I don't see how this is relevant to an Apple focused news & rumors site.
- Jasen.
Imagine Steve joining a rival company after he left Apple. That would have been very very different.
Well, in a way he did. He made the NeXT computer company which eventually led to OS X and Pixar which changed animation until it was ultimately bought by Disney to fix their studio.
Lie about business expenses, have an affair with a contractor and give her money either to keep her quiet or to prime the relationship.
If the boss thinks embezzlement, fraudulent financial reporting and sexual harassment are ok, what does that say about the existing management at Oracle?
...bought by Disney to fix their studio.
To fix ? Seriously?
I really can't understand why folks are excited and supportive of this? Hurd's only accomplishment at HP was to slash and burn. How many thousands of employees laid off? How many projects canceled?
If slash and burn was what HP needed -- and apparently, it was, judging by the very convincing market reaction both on the way up (Hurd's actions) and the way down (Hurd's firing) -- then that is what was needed. Perhaps the company had too much bloat and too much bureaucracy. Perhaps many of the 'projects canceled' were value-destroying -- do you happen know otherwise; if so, how?
HP is not a charity or government organization. It should be run to benefit shareholders. Hurd understood that. It appears that the Board does not. If I was an HP shareholder, I would have sold by now.
To fix ? Seriously?
Yes. At least, the animation piece, which had become an unmitigated disaster (last decent hit prior to Pixar was Lion King).
Google the news stories from around the time of the acquisition announcement.
I guess this shows what sort of ethics are acceptable at Oracle.
Lie about business expenses, have an affair with a contractor and give her money either to keep her quiet or to prime the relationship.
If the boss thinks embezzlement, fraudulent financial reporting and sexual harassment are ok, what does that say about the existing management at Oracle?
That's exactly it... Larry Ellison isn't known as an exemplar of personal and professional conduct.
I guess this shows what sort of ethics are acceptable at Oracle.
Lie about business expenses, have an affair with a contractor and give her money either to keep her quiet or to prime the relationship.
If the boss thinks embezzlement, fraudulent financial reporting and sexual harassment are ok, what does that say about the existing management at Oracle?
You really should not spread lies.
I don't see how this is relevant to an Apple focused news & rumors site.
- Jasen.
It isn't.