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.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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