Oracle names ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd co-president

In this file photo made March 3, 2010, Hewlett-Packard Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd speaks during an appearance in Conway, Ark. Mr. Hurd was appointed co-president of Oracle Corp. Tuesday. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

Story Topics

• Technology_Internet
• Business_Finance
• Mark V. Hurd
• Oracle Corp.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Oracle Corp. has hired former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd to help lead the database software maker in a pivotal moment in Oracle’s 33-year history as it tries to muscle in on more of HP’s turf.

Mr. Hurd’s appointment Monday as co-president of Oracle comes a month after he resigned from HP following a sexual harassment investigation.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison loudly came to Mr. Hurd’s defense at the time, calling HP’s decision to oust Mr. Hurd the worst personnel decision since Apple Inc. forced out Steve Jobs — another of Mr. Ellison’s friends — 25 years ago.

Oracle and HP are longtime partners, working together for 25 years to make sure their products are in sync. But Mr. Hurd’s new job underscores the growing fissure between the Silicon Valley heavyweights.

Oracle is now competing in one of HP’s biggest businesses — selling the computer servers that power businesses’ back offices. The company said in a statement that Mr. Hurd will also serve as a member of the board of directors and will report to Ellison.

Mr. Ellison praised Mr. Hurd’s tenure at HP and said no other executive had more relevant experience.

“Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” Mr. Ellison said. “There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark. Oracle’s future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise.”

One of Oracle’s two presidents — Charles Phillips, a former Marine and investment banker who was with the company for seven years — is resigning to make room for Mr. Hurd. The other — Safra Catz, Oracle’s former chief financial officer — is staying.

Mr. Ellison said Mr. Phillips wanted to leave in December, but that Mr. Ellison asked him to stay through the integration of Sun Microsystems.

Mr. Phillips was in the news earlier this year when pictures of him snuggling with his former mistress appeared on billboards around the U.S. Mr. Ellison said Oracle will miss Mr. Phillips‘ talent and leadership but that he respects Mr. Phillips‘ decision to leave.

The latest moves amount to little more than management maneuvering involving business celebrities, with Mr. Hurd and Mr. Ellison being two of the biggest names in technology, and Mr. Hurd’s ouster from HP being one of the great dramas in Silicon Valley history.

In hiring Mr. Hurd, Oracle doesn’t necessarily get everything he knows. Part of Mr. Hurd’s severance package from HP — which could top $40 million — includes a confidentiality agreement that restricts what he can tell a future employer about internal HP dealings.

Still, what Oracle is getting is Mr. Hurd’s ability to steer a sprawling technology company and find ways to make it even bigger. HP cleared $114 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year, while Oracle had nearly $27 billion.

Mr. Hurd is being tapped as Oracle undergoes a similar transformation to the one he spearheaded in his five years atop HP.

Oracle is in a richly profitable business as the No. 1 seller of database software, but is trying to carve out territory in other areas.

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