Oracle (ORCL) Hires Former HP (HPQ) CEO Mark Hurd Co-President

September 7, 2010, 7:26 AM

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) announced late Monday evening that they have hired former Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ)CEO Mark Hurd to be Co President of the company. The news comes a month after he resigned from HP following a sexual harassment investigation.

Oracle said in a statement on Monday, Mark Hurd will replace Charles Phillips, who has resigned the same day. Phillips was co-president alongside Safra Catz, who will remain in her position with the company.

The company added in the statement that Hurd will also serve as a member of the board of directors and will report to his close friend Larry Ellison.

CEO Larry Ellison had criticized HP’s decision to force Hurd to resign, calling the actions of HP’s board “cowardly”.

“Mark did a brilliant job at H.P., and I expect he’ll do even better at Oracle,” “There is no executive in the I.T. world with more relevant experience than Mark.” Oracle chief executive Ellison said in a statement on Monday.

In the statement Oracle co-presidents, Safra Catz, said about Hurd  “an outstanding executive and a proven winner…I look forward to working with him for years to come. As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $100 billion business.”

Oracle is the world’s third largest software maker, and currently is competing with HP as well as with IBM and SAP.

“I believe Oracle’s strategy of combining software with hardware will enable Oracle to beat IBM in both enterprise servers and storage,” Mark Hurd said in a statement on Monday.

Oracle Corp. shares jumped more than 7% to $24.67 on Tuesday morning.

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Tags: Hewlett-Packard Co., hp hpq, Nasdaq, NYSE, oracle corp