Not just anybody can do the dirty work of cutting costs, programs and jobs. Mark Hurd was well-known for doing that as CEO at Hewlett-Packard after he replaced Carly Fiorina in March 2005, and he had done similar duty at NCR previously.
Now Hurd, who was forced to resign from HP Aug. 6 following allegations of sexual harassment and a subsequent financial cover-up, is preparing to take a new position: co-president of Oracle under the direction of his longtime friend, Oracle CEO and co-founder Larry Ellison.
Industry analysts say Ellison is making a statement by immediately hiring Hurd after his Aug. 6 ouster at HP, the world’s largest IT company. That statement would be that Oracle is completely serious about competing with both HP and IBM at the highest levels for enterprise IT systems business.
But whether Hurd’s executive history will serve Oracle well in the long run remains to be seen, since his strength is cost containment, according to Christine Crandell, senior vice president of marketing at Accept, who spoke with CIO Insight sister publication eWeek.
Oracle is in the process of digesting 27,000-person Sun Microsystems after having acquired it for $7.4 billion in January. Although Sun brought hardware, software and service products Oracle lacked, there are still areas of overlap, and headcount has been lowered substantiallyâ⬔with still more people expected to go.
“When it comes to Sun, Hurd’s job will not be just about cutting costs; it’ll be about, ‘What is the new Oracle?'” Crandell said. “What are the pieces of this organization that we have to bring together, and what is the plan to achieve the objective? And that has a lot more importance than just where to cut costs and headcount.”
For more, read the eWeek article, Why Hurd Will Be Key To Shaping The New Oracle.