Hurd to become Ellison's number two at Oracle?

 

Gallery

By Barry Collins

Posted on 6 Sep 2010 at 08:30

Larry Ellison is reportedly throwing a lifeline to the disgraced former CEO of HP, Mark Hurd.

Ellison's Oracle has allegedly offered Hurd a job, less than a month after he was forced to stand down after an expenses scandal. Hurd resigned after an investigation into a complaint of sexual harassment uncovered irregularities in his expenses claims.

Ellison publicly defended his long-standing friend at the time, describing HP's decision to effectively force out its CEO as "the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago".

"In losing Mark Hurd, the HP board failed to act in the best interest of HP's employees, shareholders, customers and partners," Ellison added.

"The HP board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false."

It's not clear what position Hurd's been offered at Oracle, with some sources speculating that he will be installed as Ellison's number two.

Hurd last week resigned from his position on the board of News Corp.