Oracle’s board will meet within days to vote on a deal to bring Mark Hurd to the company in a top role, marking a rapid corporate rehabilitation for the ousted Hewlett-Packard chief executive.
Mr Hurd is unlikely to win the title of chief executive, which has been held since 1977 by Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chairman, who owns about a quarter of the database software giant. But almost any position would represent a coup for Mr Hurd after HP’s board forced him to quit the company he had led for five years.
Mr Hurd was ousted from HP over questions about his handling of expenses following an allegation of sexual harassment of a female consultant. HP said that it had found no violation of its own sexual harassment policy but determined that expense reports filed by or for Mr Hurd were inappropriate.