HP co-sues Hurd for his Oracle appointment

NEW YORK: Oracle hiring the former HP chief Hurd has given rise to a new controversy.Hewlett-Packard Co sued Mark Hurd to block him from joining rival Oracle Corp as a senior executive, alleging the hiring breaches his exit agreement and will lead to a transfer of technology giant's trade secrets to a competitor.

Oracle Corp had said its newly appointed president, Mark Hurd, will be paid an annual salary of $950,000 and the former Hewlett-Packard chief will be eligible for a target bonus of $5-$10 million under its executive bonus plan for fiscal 2011.

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On Monday, Oracle hired Hurd, who resigned last month from Hewlett-Packard amid a scandal, as president and named him to its board.

Hurd's offer letter states he will be granted a stock option to purchase 10 million of Oracle's common stock, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Hurd, currently a director of News Corp, will not stand for re-election, Oracle said.

According to the 'Wall Street Journal', H-P filed suit in Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County on Tuesday, seeking an injunction against Hurd and unnamed others who helped him join Oracle, and asks for unspecified damages.

Hurd, it claims, "is violating and will continue to violate his legal obligations" as a result of his Oracle appointment, according to the complaint.

Meanwhile, in a statement Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said that his company and H-P have long been partners but by "filing this vindictive lawsuit" H-P's board "is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees."

He added that the board "is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and H-P to continue to cooperate."