HP Attempts to Keep Mark Hurd from Joining Oracle

Oracle Corp. said on Wednesday that it will pay its new co-president, Mark Hurd, and annual salary of $950,000 and that he could earn a bonus of up t0 $10 million. The offer letter was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It comes about a month after Hurd's controversial departure from Hewlett-Packard, where he was CEO. Oracle first announced on Monday that it would hire Hurd.

In the letter Oracle said that Hurd will be eligible for election to the board of directors early next month. Hurd will be responsible for Oracle's global sales, consulting, marketing and support organizations. He will report to Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison. Ellison publicly slammed HP when they let go of Hurd.

However, HP doesn't seem ready to let go quite yet. The company has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent Hurd from joining up with Oracle. HP said in court documents that Hurd has put its "most valuable trade secrets and confidential information in peril." What one may ask is why is HP bringing this up now, they could have prevented him from leaving HP, but they didn't, Hurd as all the right to join up with Oracle, and HP shouldn't be able to stop him, it was their mistake to let him go.

When Hurd left HP, he received $12 million in cash, and he also kept a large part of his stock and options, meaning he has significant investment in the company, so HP shouldn't be worried about being crushed just yet.

Continue reading on the next page.


Oracle is know for its lavish compensation for its top executives. Safra Catz, who will remain co-president along with Hurd, earned an estimated $36.4 million last year in salary, bonus and options. This was down from the $42.3 million she took home last year. However, with Hurd beside her, there is a large possibility that they will reap in the rewards next year.