 "Oracle Hires Mark Hurd As Co-President, Phillips Resigns")
Silicon Valley technology giant Oracle Corp has hired Mark Hurd, the former Chief Executive of Hewlett-Packard Co who resigned amid a scandal, as President.
Hurd, a close friend of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will replace Charles Phillips, who has resigned, Oracle said in a statement on Monday. Phillips was co-president alongside Safra Catz, who remains in her role.
Ellison had slammed HP’s decision to oust Hurd, calling the actions of HP’s board “cowardly.”
Hurd resigned from HP on Aug. 6, after a probe into sexual harassment allegations. HP said at the time that he filed inaccurate expense reports related to Jodie Fisher, a marketing contractor who worked for Hurd’s office from 2007 through 2009.
“Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” said Ellison in a statement on Monday.
Plucked from relative obscurity to head HP, Hurd is credited with resuscitating the technology giant by cutting costs and pursuing ambitious acquisitions.
HP said the expense reports were meant to hide a “close personal relationship” with Fisher, a sometime actress who has appeared in television shows and movies.
Oracle, the world’s third largest software maker, competes with HP as well as with International Business Machines Corp and SAP.
“I believe Oracle’s strategy of combining software with hardware will enable Oracle to beat IBM in both enterprise servers and storage,” Hurd said in Monday’s statement.
“Oracle is clearly capitalising on this opportunity to get someone strong from a top hardware company,” said Forrester analyst James Staten. “In terms of how this helps Oracle against IBM, there is reason to be optimistic.”
Still, Staten noted there will now be two strong personalities at the top.
“So Mark Hurd will have someone who’s very hands-on sitting above him,” Staten said. “But we have to assume they’ll get along.”
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