Digital News Report – The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) announced today that they are suing their former Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd. Last month Hurd left HP after an internal investigation uncovered expense-account irregularities.
On Monday Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL) announced that they were hiring Hurd as President. Oracle has specialized in enterprise software products and database management systems. But this could change.
“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 an Oracle statement released Monday.
HP is concerned that Oracle will compete directly with HP, not just IBM. The company is worried that Hurd will share their trade secrets. “Hurd has put HP’s most valuable trade secrets and confidential information in peril,” HP said in a statement. “Hurd accepted positions with Oracle Corporation (“Oracle”), a competitor of HP.”
Hurd was paid extremely well by HP, the computer manufacturer claimed in a statement today. “Despite being paid millions of dollars in cash, stock and stock options in exchange for Hurd’s agreements to protect HP’s trade secrets and confidential information,” HP said in a statement.
By: Tina Brown