Now that the 3Par bidding wars between Dell and HP are over, HP has a new drama to play out: a lawsuit with Oracle over the hire of its former president and CEO Mark Hurd. But Oracle’s appointment may bring a different brand of drama to the company in the form of poor employee morale as Hurd sets out to make the Sun acquisition pay dividends for the tech giant.
HP filed a lawsuit seeking to block Hurd from joining Oracle’s executive ranks after the PC-maker forced his resignation in August in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. HP claims Hurd’s hire breaches an exit agreement and puts the company’s trade secrets at risk. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison rapidly fired back at HP with what may sound to some like a threat.
“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.”
While the public drama unfolds, some analysts see an internal drama heating up with the Sun integration. Oracle purchased Sun for $7.4 billion in January. Rob Enderle, principal analyst at The Enderle Group, says Oracle faces a significant problem integrating Sun into its business line.
“The Sun acquisition is a train wreck and they need someone who can come in and fix it before the market figures out that the acquisition is a train wreck and it impacts Oracle stock,” Enderle said. “Hurd is probably one of the few people on the planet who, at least on paper, looks like he has…