HP sues its ex-CEO for taking job at rival Oracle

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Hewlett-Packard Co. is suing the chief executive it ousted last month, Mark Hurd, to stop him from taking a top job at rival Oracle Corp.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a California state court, came a day after Oracle hired Hurd, 53, as co-president to help lead the database software maker’s efforts to steal business from HP. HP claims that Hurd won’t be able to perform his job at Oracle without spilling HP’s trade secrets and violating a confidentiality agreement.

This type of complaint isn’t unusual in the technology world, nor is the confidentiality agreement that Hurd had signed as part of a severance package from HP that could top $40 million.

As HP’s CEO for five years, a stint that ended after a sexual-harassment investigation, Hurd was responsible for preparing HP’s strategic plans and has intimate details about HP’s profit margins.

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