In naming Mark Hurd as Oracle’s new co-president, Lawrence Ellison, Oracle’s chief executive and largest shareholder, has put his money where his controversial mouth is.
Late on Monday, Oracle announced that Hurd, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP), had joined the company as a president and a director.
Hurd, 53, resigned from his position at HP one month ago, after an investigation by the board into a personal relationship with a contractor discovered questionable expense reports.
Ellison, a personal friend of Hurd’s, criticized HP’s board last month in an e-mail message to the New York Times, saying it was “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.”
Now, Oracle intends to capitalize on HP’s mistake, Ellison, 66, said.
“Mark did a brilliant job at HP, and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” Ellison said in the statement. “There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark.”
Oracle already had a crowded management suite, with Charles Phillips Jr and Safra Catz serving as co-presidents under Ellison.
Phillips, however, has resigned and given up his seat on the board, making room for Hurd.
In his statement, Ellison said that Phillips had asked to leave the company in December.
“We will miss his talent and leadership, but I respect his decision,” Ellison said.
This year, Phillips acknowledged having an affair after a woman he had been seeing, YaVaughnie Wilkins, put up a Web site and billboards detailing his extramarital relationship.
Oracle’s decision to hire Hurd presents Silicon Valley with a true soap opera, filled with fierce business dealings and saucy relationships.
HP has long been one of Oracle’s largest partners in the business computing market.
HP sells the computer servers and storage systems that customers use to run Oracle’s database software. However, Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, one of HP’s longtime rivals in the hardware market.
Hurd will bring his expertise running the largest computer hardware business on the planet to Oracle, where he may be able to revive the fortunes of Sun’s products at HP’s expense.
Oracle has, in particular, used Sun’s technology to build a new line of data warehousing systems that can sort through huge volumes of information like sales trends, pricing and inventory levels.
Before joining HP as its chief executive in 2005, Hurd was chief executive of NCR, which had the leading data warehousing technology.
Hurd also oversaw a number of large acquisitions at HP, so he should feel right at home at Oracle, one of the most active buyers of companies in the technology industry.
“As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a US$100 billion business,” Catz said in a statement.
Catz will continue to oversee Oracle’s finance, legal and merger and acquisition operations, while Ellison will oversee engineering. Hurd will manage sales, marketing and software support.
In a statement, Hurd said he looked forward to tackling Oracle’s rivals.
“I’m excited to be a part of the most innovative technology team in the IT industry,” he said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from