The Mark Hurd soap opera is turning into more than just a diverting tale of a chief executive’s foibles and a board’s willingness to countenance a severe dent in the share price to protect its company’s ethical values.
A month on, the forced resignation of Hewlett-Packard’s former chief has taken a fresh twist. It is one that speaks volumes about the new battle lines that are being drawn up across the IT landscape.
At the start of this week, Oracle, the biggest maker of the software used in large corporate IT systems, hired Mr Hurd for a senior role at the company. Less than 24 hours later, Hewlett-Packard – itself the biggest maker of computer hardware – sued to block the move.