Mark Hurd forced to resign, then sued?

Mark Hurd who was Chief Executive Officer of computer giant Hewlett Packard was forced to resign last month after an internal investigation found that he had inappropriate contact with a contracted worker. The Executive Committee stated that “Hurd demonstrated a profound lack of judgment that seriously undermined his credibility and damaged his effectiveness in leading HP” (Bloomberg).

Under Mark Hurd realm HP say their market capitalization increase from 44.6 Billion to 10 108.1 Billion. Hurd took over April 1 2005. Immediately following the announcement, HP's stock price fell 9.3 percent.

Over the past two days Hurd is back in the news because he had accepted the top spot at Oracle, which is one of HP’s biggest rivals in Silicon Valley. HP filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara court against Hurd because according to the tech company, he signed a 35 million dollar severance package, which included that he must not work in the industry for two years because he has sensitive information about HP. HP released the following statement, “In his new positions, Hurd will be in a in situation (in) which he cannot perform his duties for Oracle without necessarily using and disclosing HP's trade secrets and confidential information to others." I see where HP is coming from wanting him to sign such a clause, but it is absurd that they are now trying to prevent him from working at Oracle. Hurd lead HP to be top in sales of personal computer and data server and significantly created value for shareholders, and them forced him out in a very quick time frame. Tech analysts have stated that this is the worst personal decision since Apple fired Steve Jobs. I agree with the analysts not only has HP lost value but will continue to lose market capitalization because of this decision. I believe that HP’s board has realized the mistake they have made and are now regretting such a hastily decision.

I am not the only one who believes HP is not doing the right thing here, “I think HP has a real uphill battle here. The notion is that you cannot do your job without using our trade secrets. And without specifics, it's just not likely to fly” (Cliff Palefsky of San Francisco law firm McGuinn). This will be an interesting case, but whatever decision is made one thing is for sure, Mark Hurd will walk away with a very generous package.