Former HP CEO Mark Hurd Going to Oracle?

Reports have disgraced former HP CEO Mark Hurd in talks about a senior position at database giant Oracle.

Last month, Mark Hurd resigned from the CEO position at Hewlett-Packard after the HP board dteremined that he had violated the company’s code of business conduct with regard to his relationship with a former marketing contractor who worked with Hewlett-Packard. Now, reports are surfacing in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and elsewhere that Hurd is considering a senior position at database giant Oracle—although the CEO seat is apparently not up for discussion.

The nature of Hurd’s potential position in the company hasn’t been determined: some reports have him up for consideration as a Chief Operating Officer, while others speculate he may turn up as a senior vice president. Any senior-level job would have to be approved by Oracle’s board of directors and, of course, Oracle’s outspoken CEO, Larry Ellison.

Hurd has been considered one of the technology sector’s most successful executives for his success in turning Hewlett-Packard into a steadily growing company after taking the reins from Carly Fiorina in 2005. (Fiorina is currently running for Senate in California.)

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison—who has led the company for three decades—characterized the HP board’s decision to accept Hurd’s resignation as one of the worst personnel decisions in the industry since Apple’s board ousted Steve Jobs in the mid-1980s. Ellison is the only CEO Oracle has ever had, although—now aged 66—he has been increasingly leaving the day-to-day operations of the company to co-presidents Charles Phillips and Safra Katz. Ellison remains Oracle’s largest shareholder, owning nearly one quarter of the company’s shares.

Oracle and Hewlett-Packard have, historically, rarely been direct competitors, but Oracle’s recent acquisition of Sun Microsystems puts Oracle head-to-head with HP in the server and storage systems market.