Hurd joined Oracle nine years ago after he worked for HP for five years. At HP, he served as CEO, president, and ultimately chairman. In 2010, he was forced to resign from all HP positions. According to Hewlett-Packard, he submitted an inaccurate expense report at the time, concealing his “close personal relationship” with an outsourced female employee engaged in marketing work.
Considering Hurd’s performance, this news surprised many people outside of HP. In Hurd’s tenure, HP’s share price has doubled. But the HP board said that after the outsourcing female employee’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, contacted the company, accusing Hurd of sexual harassment, the board had little choice. (The then director, Marc Andreessen, said, “This is a necessary decision.”)
Hurd left after receiving $12,224,693 in turnover compensation. In the second month, Hurd’s friend Larry Ellison appointed him as Oracle’s co-president. Ellison founded Oracle in the summer of 1977. Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, said in the relevant announcement: “Mark has done a good job at HP, and I expect him to do better at Oracle. In the IT industry, no one else has more experience than Mark.”
After Ellison ceased to be the CEO of Oracle in 2014 and became the chief technology officer, he was promoted to Hurd as CEO. After former CFO Safra Catz was promoted to CEO, they both served as co-CEOs.
Currently, with Hurd’s departure, Katz will become the sole CEO of Oracle. CNBC reported that Ellison is still the company’s chief technology officer, and he is expected to assume some of Hurd’s duties.
Hurd entered the University of Texas Baylor after receiving a tennis scholarship. It is reported that he participated in the professional tennis tournament immediately after graduation. His career began at the NRC. After 22 years in the company, he was promoted to chief operating officer and served as CEO the following year.
Two years later, he joined HP.
In today’s announcement, Ellison tried to appease Oracle’s investors. He said: “Oracle has a very capable CEO Katz, and a team of in-depth executives, many of whom have been in Oracle for a long time.” Katz said: “Mark fully participated in the first we just ended. Quarterly, now he needs to focus on his own health issues.”
At the same time, Oracle also announced quarterly earnings, slightly lower than Wall Street expectations. In the after-hours trading of US stocks on Wednesday, Oracle shares fell 2.7% but rebounded at the time of this writing.
The full text of the emails Hud gave to employees is as follows:
To all my friends and colleagues at Oracle,
We worked hard together and completed the first quarter, and now I decided I need to take the time to focus on my health. Under my application, the board of directors has approved my sick leave. Everyone knows that Larry, Safira, and I work together as a strong team. I am confident that they and the entire executive management team will do a great job of implementing the exciting plans we will show at the upcoming OpenWorld.
I love Oracle and hope that you will succeed during my departure – mark
Email: colin@satprwire.com Phone: +44 20 4732 1984
Colin has been working in the business industry for quite a sometime and he recently made the decision to become a full-time business journalist. At Daily Research News, he also helps us take care of the business writing.
