Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Oracle stock rises 5 per cent on news of Hurd hire

The hire makes good sense, according to some industry watchers

Oracle's stock price has climbed about 5.5 per cent so far Tuesday on news that ousted HP CEO Mark Hurd is joining the company. HP's shares, meanwhile, are down about 1 per cent, continuing a 13 per cent slide since news of Hurd's resignation and sexual harassment investigation was released on 6 August.

See what Hurd and other tech CEOs made last year

Oracle's stock last closed at $US22.92 and is trading at about $24.20 as of early Tuesday afternoon. HP's stock is hovering at $40.09, down from $46.35 just prior to Hurd's HP departure.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison came to Hurd's defense when the HP scandal first broke and Hurd was accused of improper expense accounting. Nearly a month later, Ellison cemented his defense of Hurd by naming him co-president of Oracle.

"There is no executive in the IT world with more relevant experience than Mark," said Ellison in a statement announcing Hurd's appointment. "Oracle's future is engineering complete and integrated hardware and software systems for the enterprise. Mark pioneered the integration of hardware with software when Teradata was a part of NCR."

The hire makes good sense, according to some industry watchers.

"As Oracle continues to integrate its acquired Sun assets with its database, middleware and applications platforms, the addition of an execution-focused executive like ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd is a huge boost to the company," says Stuart Williams, a software business practice manager at Technology Business Research (TBR).

Hurd's drive for operational efficiency will be an asset to the Oracle/Sun business, which is notorious for its high operating expenses, Williams says. "It is a ‘back-to-the-future' moment for Hurd, who took the reins at HP under similar circumstances following HP's acquisition of Compaq," he says. "HP had to drive out the cost from the acquired firm and construct a more efficient supply chain, sales model and sourcing strategy."

During Hurd's five years with HP, the company grew its revenue from $US91.6 billion in 2006 to $114.6 billion in 2009 and more than doubled its earnings per share. (See: Mark Hurd: A look back at his HP tenure) 

At Oracle, Hurd shares the title of president with Safra Catz, who says she looks forward to working with him. "As Oracle continues to grow we need people experienced in operating a $US100 billion business," Catz said in a statement.

Oracle is aiming to expand its market share with appliances that tie software with hardware to address specific workloads, such as data warehouse or online transaction processing. Purpose-built appliances are gaining in popularity, Williams says. More than 50% of enterprise customers surveyed by TBR said they purchased at least one of these higher-end appliances in the past 12 months.

But the competition is steep.

"Oracle is plotting a strategy that takes it into direct competition with traditional systems heavyweight IBM. IBM has huge advantages -- with long-time enterprise customers, a services business, a strong IP-backed hardware business and a $US20 billion software business of its own," Williams says.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, HP, IBM, IBM Australia, NCR, Oracle, Teradata
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: business issues, corporate issues, Data Center, hardware systems, mark hurd, oracle, personnel, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Seven Steps to Effective Data Governance
    Creating a framework to ensure the confidentiality, quality, and integrity of data – the core meaning of data governance – is essential to meet both internal and external requirements, such as financial reporting, regulatory compliance, and privacy policies. At its best, data governance roots out risk – both business and compliance risk – by increasing oversight. This white paper provides seven steps for taking such an approach, concluding with a real world example, taking an incremental approach using a repeatable framework that is a practical, proven strategy that any size organization can implement to suit their immediate and long-term needs and budget.
    Learn more »
  • Email Encryption/Decryption and Signing integrated into a comprehensive content security solution
    Clearswift’s SECURE Email Gateway provides an easy to use approach to providing secure email conversations. The technology enables customers to provide the privacy, authenticity and integrity of the communication that secure messaging offers, but without the complexity and high administration cost of other systems. The Clearswift SECURE Email Gateway with integrated encryption technology enables business to communicate with confidence and protects them from the risk of sensitive data loss.
    Learn more »
  • Unified Communications Strategy Guide
    Articles include: How to ensure a successful UC project; Five reasons to set up unified communications; Unified communications: Is your network ready?; How to get the most from unified communications. Read this Computerworld Strategy Guide.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments