Larry Ellison Responds: HP Is "Making It Virtually Impossible" For Us To Work Together

Business Insider ^ | 09/08/2010 | Jay Yarow

[SeekAndFind]

Oracle has responded to HP's lawsuit against new hire Mark Hurd.

In short, Larry Ellison is ready to fight!

Here's the statement:

“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."

[dfwgator]

Translation: Oracle will acquire HP within in a few years.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Oracle will acquire HP within in a few years.

Who is bigger, Oracle or HP ?

[Dr. Sivana]

That's rich, sort like McGinniss' line about Sarah Palin making people combative and rude.

Oracle and HP can't merge, the anti-trust shocks would be felt around the world.

[devere]

Translation: I have no legal defense to your complaint.

[Astronaut]

I have no love for Oracle and Ellison right now. They bought Sun Microsystems and took a great company and destroyed it. The killed OpenSolaris. Ellison is no different than Steve Jobs - egomaniac and control freak, who holds his customers in contempt.

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Ah, HP is paying the price for political correctness.

[o2bfree]

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Ah, HP is paying the price for political correctness.

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Mark Hurd seems to have gone to the right company in terms of company culture. Larry Ellison does not mind his employees cavorting with one another as his own personal life will attest.

Howerver, if HP wins its lawsuit, Hurd can only work for companies that don’t have a large HP partnership footprint in it. What a bummer !

[justlurking]

Translation: I have no legal defense to your complaint.

Actually, the burden of proof is on HP.

Non-compete agreements are prohibited by law in California. And reportedly, Hurd never signed one.

Here's the court filing:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/37053792/Court-Filing-HP-Civil-Complaint-Against-Mark-Hurd

Read it. HP can claim only that Hurd might disclose trade secrets or confidential information. They aren't claiming that he has actually done so.

[Zeppo]

Food fight!

[sitetest]

The question is, who needs the other more? Does HP need Oracle more than Oracle needs HP, or vice versa? I don’t know the answer to the question, but the answer to it will guide the reader to the final outcome.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Food fight!

I guess that’s one industry Mark Hurd can go to without being sued by HP. Maybe PepsiCo or Coca-Cola.

But they already have CEOs so, Mark might was well enjoy his multi-million dollar severance for the meantime (I would if I were him).

[Non-Sequitur]

Non-compete agreements are prohibited by law in California. And reportedly, Hurd never signed one.

It wasn't a non-compete, it was a non-disclosure. And considering the areas where HP and Oracle overlap it'd be nearly impossible for Hurd to do his job without disclosing some HP confidential information.

[Non-Sequitur]

Who is bigger, Oracle or HP ?

HP had 2009 revenue of about $115 billion compared to Oracle's $24 billion. But an acquisition would never make it past an anti-trust review.

[TSgt]

Agreed, it would never happen.

Very different companies with very different cultures.

[doc11355]

Ellison is no different than Steve Jobs - egomaniac and control freak, who holds his customers in contempt.

Are you an Apple customer who has experienced being held in contempt by "the egomaniac and control freak Steve Jobs" or are you a Windows fan who just assumes this slanderous, uninformed opinion must be true just because you've heard it repeatedly?

[justlurking]

It wasn't a non-compete, it was a non-disclosure. And considering the areas where HP and Oracle overlap it'd be nearly impossible for Hurd to do his job without disclosing some HP confidential information.

That's HP's claim. However, I have doubts that it will hold up in court, especially in California.

I do consulting work for competitors on a regular basis (albeit not at the same time), and have no problem keeping them separate. I even decline to identify customers that we have had in the past, unless that customer has specifically granted permission to be used as a reference.

[SeekAndFind]

For those interested...

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=11582114

Oracle Corp offered its new president, Mark Hurd, former head of Hewlett-Packard Co, a salary of $950000 and a bonus of up to $10 million for fiscal 2011, plus stock options.

[Non-Sequitur]

Mark might was well enjoy his multi-million dollar severance for the meantime.

I'm sure that the atmosphere in the Hurd household is pretty frosty right about now, given his activities at HP. I'm sure he just wants to be out of the house.