“It took Hewlett-Packard less than a day to file a lawsuit against its former chief executive, Mark V. Hurd, over his decision to join its rival and partner Oracle as a co-president. H.P. filed its lawsuit on Tuesday in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara, claiming that Mr. Hurd had breached his contract with the company. The lawsuit said that Mr. Hurd could use his intimate knowledge of H.P. and its trade secrets to aid Oracle and harm H.P. The two companies compete in the market for computer servers, storage systems and business software.”
You’re fired, and by the way, you can’t take the job that you’re perfectly qualified for, which is heading up another big tech company. Our contract says that if we fire you, you have to go work at Starbucks afterward. I don’t think this will stand up in court unless HP can prove that they didn’t force him to resign and that he resigned just so he could take the Oracle job.
Sorry, but I have a really hard time feeling sorry for someone who rakes in as much dough as he most likely did. Also recall that he resigned because of inapproriate behavioiur so no, I really don’t feel sorry for him.
It’s standard practice for such positions that you can’t join a competitor for X number of onths after resigning. It’s not like he couldnt have done the smart thing and waited but we’ve already seen that he lack both smarts and ethics.
Although why Oracle would even want to hire him is anyone’s guess.
Edit. Ah, Ellison is his buddy. well, that explians it.
Edited 2010-09-08 07:44 UTC
No. Is more like “you are fired, and you have 35+ million dollars in compensation, go out and fool around for a couple of decades”.
I don’t understand why he even wants to keep working.
If i ever get 10+ million bonus, i say good by, and go out to travel the world.
Edited 2010-09-08 12:53 UTC
That’s because you are not a sociopath.
Most CEOs don’t reach that position by being either nice or actual functional human beings. At some point, the level of greed displayed by some of the super wealthy must be considered what it is: pathological.
Heh. Reminds me of something i read once:
Psychopaths grow up to become either serial killers, succesful businessmen or influential political leaders.
Can’t help but think there’s something to it….
Whatever, lowly engineers are forced to sign non-compete agreements which puts them in the same pickle. eVen though technically they are illegal in Cali. What it is good for the goose, should be good for the gander. Let’em taste their own medicine.
There are far more people who deserve actual concern for fairness that some guy who just got a massive golden parachute. He doesn’t have to work a single day in his life, and yet still live better than you. And you worry about “fairness” now?
Edited 2010-09-08 13:26 UTC
This won’t fly.
Yup they fired him… over stuff that was trivial and quite common in many CEO positions in many corporations that don’t get their laundry aired.
I’m waiting for the scorned lover to enter the scene. Does anyone else see a daytime TV show from this material?
I’ve worked in several IT companies where the contract prohibits to work aither at client or at competitor. Also with specific list of companies. Always managed to settle an agreement and if needed the other company has been willing to pay the fee for the previous employer.
Yeah what a lucky bastard he doesn’t have to worry about financial security. In europe you get fired then you can spend the next 2-3 years with playing with your nerdbox till you get another crap job.
California law prohibits non-compete clauses in any employment contract and in any case they forced him out and that voided any agreement, the courts will take about 10 minutes to toss that one.
“Oracle has long viewed HP as an important partner,” said Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. “By filing this vindictive lawsuit against Oracle and Mark Hurd, the HP board is acting with utter disregard for that partnership, our joint customers, and their own shareholders and employees. The HP Board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace.”
-Larry
Larry is either a total genius or a total moron. Here is why i think he’s a genius:
Oracle, now that it has acquired SUN has a hardware business as well as Solaris. Oracle now no longer needs HP for these reasons. Larry hiring on Mark is a way to get HP to go on the defensive and gives Larry an excuse to break away from HP with full media coverage (and if he plays his card right, he can make HP look like the bad guys).
So now Larry has an excuse to give a big press conference on the reasons Oracle no longer needs HP and why it stands by it’s decision once negotiations break down. If Larry rides this wave all the way to the shore and plays it well it could be a big step in the right (as far as business is concerned) direction for Oracle.
by contrast, if he is just winging it and playing the emotional loud mouth card, then this will surely end badly on all fronts…
The only problem is it seems a little soon for scenario A. On the other hand HP would have forced his hand.
Ugh. Politics and bureaucracy. The game is afoot.