마크 허드를 영입한 래리 엘리슨의 우정

최근 오라클은 불미스런 이유로 HP를 사임했던 마크 허드를 공동대표사장으로 영입한 바 있다. 엄격하기로 유명한 취업규칙을 지상 과제로 강조하는 오라클이 그런 배경을 가진 인물을 영입할 수밖에 없는 이유가 무엇인지 궁금했다. 허핑턴포스트에 나타난 관련 기사를 따라가 본다. 

허핑턴포스트 8월 6일자 기사에 따르면 한때 IT산업계의 유명인사였던 HP의 마크 허드 사장이 불미스런 조사를 계기로 사임했다고 한다. (참고: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/06/mark-hurd-resigns-from-hp_n_673950.html )

휴렛 패커드의 CEO 마크 허드는 회사 정책에 위배되는 성희롱 건으로 자리에서 물러났다. HP는 허드가 "(문제가 된) 여 계약자와의 관계를 숨기기 위해 정확한 비용 보고서를 제출하지 않았고, 다른 사업 수행에 있어서도 HP의 기준을 위반했다"고 밝혔다.

포춘 500이 한때 "불경기에 회사를 맡기기 좋은 사람"으로 "숫자 및 실행력에 집착하는" 경영자로 추켜세운 바 있는 CEO 허드가 물러나자  HP의 주식은 10 % 폭락했다. 그는 CEO 겸 사장으로 2005년 초 HP에 합류한 후, 2006년 9월에 이사회 회장으로 임명되었다.

허드는 사임 이유로 "내가 HP에서 강조하던 신뢰, 존중, 성실이라는 표준과 원칙에 맞춰 생활하지 못한 경우들이 있었다"고 밝히며 "HP에서 효과적인 리더로 남기가 어려울" 것으로 생각한다고 덧붙였다.

 

이런 일이 있은 후 오라클 회장 래리 엘리슨은 허드에 대해 옹호 발언을 한 것으로 나타났다. (8월 10일자 허핑턴포스트 기사 참고: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/larry-ellison-oracle-chie_n_676678.html )

억만 장자 래리 엘리슨은 HP가 마크 허드를 내치는 결정을 한 것은 애플이 25 년 전에 스티브 잡스를 강제해고 한 이후 최악의 인사 결정이자 비겁한 행위라고 말했다. 허드의 친구이기도 한 엘리슨은 성명에서 이번 결정이 HP의 직원, 주주, 고객 및 파트너의 최상의 이익에 반하는 것이라고 강조했다. 오라클은 HP의 파트너사이다.

"바보같은 애플 이사회가 몇 년 전에 스티브 잡스를 해고한 것에 이어 HP 이사회는 최악의 인사 결정을 내렸다. 만약 스티브가 애플로 돌아와 그들을 구해내지 않았다면 아마 애플은 무너졌을 것이다."

허드가 성희롱을 저질렀다는 증거를 찾지 못했음에도 불구하고 HP가 허드의 케이스를 세상에 알린 것은 분열된 HP 이사회의 모습을 보여주는 것으로 이는 "정치적으로 올바름을 내세우기 위한 비겁한 행동"이라고 엘리슨은 말했다. 

뉴욕 타임즈에 의하면, 엘리슨은 "마크를 내보내면서 HP 이사회는 HP의 직원, 주주, 고객 및 파트너들에게 가장 도움이 되는 행동을 취하지 못했다"고 말했다. "HP 이사회는 마크에 대한 성희롱 주장에 대해 충분히 조사했고, 그 주장이 완전히 거짓이라는 것이 밝혀졌다."

HP는 이사회가 허드의 사임을 만장일치로 결정했음을 다시 한번 강조했다.

 

그런데 현재 허드는 HP로부터 소송을 당해 있습니다. (허핑턴포스트 9월 7일자 기사 참고: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/hp-sues-exceo-mark-hurd-o_0_n_707795.html )

HP는 허드가 퇴사 한 달 만에 경쟁사인 오라클에 영입되자 그가 업무 수행을 할 수 없도록 고소를 한 상태이군요. HP가 보기에는 허드가 최고경영자로서 HP에서 습득한 다양한 정보를 오라클의 트윈 탑 사장 업무 수행을 하며 활용하지 않으리라 볼 수 없다는 거죠. 그건 회사를 떠나며 맺은 기밀준수 서약에 반하는 것이구요.

기사에 인용된 전문가들에 따르면, 이런 류의 소송 건이 딱부러지게 해결되기는 참 어려운 문제라 딱히 결론을 내기가 쉽지는 않겠지만 대부분의 경우 영입되기 전에 맡았던 업무 분야를 새 회사의 소관 업무 영역에서 제외하는 것으로 절충안을 내게 된다는 군요.

HP도 지난 해에는 EMC에서 영입한 데이비드 도나텔리라는 스토리지 전문가 때문에 똑같은 소송을 경험한 바 있답니다. 그때, 소송으로 인해 일정 기간 동안 도나텔리가 HP가 원했던 EVP로서의 직무를 수행하지 못했다고 하네요. 그리곤 판결이 났는데, 원래 영입되며 맡기로 했던 업무분장 영역에서 몇 가지는 분리시켰답니다.

25년간 끈끈한 파트너 관계를 유지하고 있던 HP에 대해 엘리슨은 이번 소송은 그런 우호관계를 전혀 고려하지 않은 것이라 비난했습니다. 더군다나 썬과의 합병 이후 오라클의 비즈니스 영역과 제품 포트폴리오는 HP와 첨예하게 대립하고 있는 상황이죠. 허드가 언제부터 제대로 일을 할 수 있게 될지 판결에 따라 달라질 수 있는 상황에서 기사에서 말하는대로 허드가 HP가 점유하고 있던 시장에서 오라클로 비즈니스를 가져오는 일이 얼마나 용이하게 수행될지 관심이 갑니다.

 

이 소송은 허드가 오라클에 영입된 바로 다음날에 제기되었고, 지난 9월 7일 현재 이야기니 그 이후 어떻게 전개되고 있는지는 두고 보아야겠네요. 귀추가 주목됩니다. 

 

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Mark Hurd RESIGNS From HP CEO Position After Harassment Probe
First Posted: 08- 6-10 05:18 PM   |   Updated: 08- 6-10 11:17 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/06/mark-hurd-resigns-from-hp_n_673950.html

 

Mark Hurd has resigned from his position as Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO, effective immediately, following an allegation of sexual harassment which found him in violation of other company policy.
Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak has been named interim CEO, AP reports.
Engadget notes that, in a call with reporters, HP said that Hurd "submitted inaccurate expense reports to conceal his relationship with the contractor, and that violated HP's standards of business conduct."
MarketWatch reported that HP's late-traded shares tumbled 10 percent in wake of Hurd's resignation.
Per his official bio on the Hewlett-Packard website, Hurd joined HP in early 2005 as CEO and president. In September 2006, he was named chairman of the board of directors.
Fortune 500 previously wrote about Hurd that he's "obsessed with the numbers and execution," adding "the HP CEO is the guy you want running a company in a recession."
Hurd said in a statement "there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP." He added that he though it would be "difficult to continue as an effective leader at HP."

 

 

Larry Ellison, Oracle Chief, Blasts HP CEO Mark Hurd's 'Cowardly' Ouster
Huffington Post/AP First Posted: 08-10-10 08:28 AM   |   Updated: 08-10-10 10:42 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/larry-ellison-oracle-chie_n_676678.html

 

SAN FRANCISCO — Billionaire Larry Ellison is blasting Hewlett-Packard's decision to oust CEO Mark Hurd as cowardly and the worst personnel decision since Apple forced out Steve Jobs 25 years ago.
Ellison, Oracle's CEO and a friend of Hurd's, issued a statement Monday saying that the move to get rid of Hurd went against the best interests of HP's employees, shareholders, customers and partners. Oracle is one of those partners.
"The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," Ellison said in his statement. "That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them."
HP's decision to go public with a sexual harassment claim against Hurd, even though a company investigation found no basis for the claim, was an act of "cowardly corporate political correctness" by a divided board of directors, Ellison says.
"In losing Mark Hurd, the HP board failed to act in the best interest of HP's employees, shareholders, customers and partners,"Ellison wrote, according to the New York Times. "The HP board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false."
HP repeated that the board voted unanimously for Hurd's resignation.

 

 

HP SUES Ex-CEO Mark Hurd Over New Job At Rival Oracle
JORDAN ROBERTSON | 09/ 7/10 08:33 PM | 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/hp-sues-exceo-mark-hurd-o_0_n_707795.html

 

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett-Packard Co. is suing Mark Hurd, the chief executive it ousted last month, 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 as co-president to help lead the database software maker's efforts to lure business away 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.
Technology companies often require such agreements because workers walk out the door with valuable technical information.
But the stakes are higher with Hurd than a rank-and-file employee, and the lawsuit may delay when Hurd could start his new job.
The latest lawsuit also underscores the growing rancor between HP and Oracle.
The companies have cooperated for 25 years to make sure that their products work well together. But that relationship is straining now that Oracle, like HP, sells the computer servers that power companies' back offices. Oracle got into that business through its $7.4 billion purchase of Sun Microsystems last year.
Oracle is mostly known for its database software, which many people use every day but likely don't know it, such as when they're pulling money out of a bank or booking a flight. The software helps companies organize and access their data. It essentially gives them a map to all their information, so their computers know exactly where to find things.
Oracle is the world's No. 1 database software maker, and with the Sun business, Oracle is now among the world's top seller of servers, as is HP.
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 and special deals it has offered customers, according to HP's lawsuit.
HP also insisted that Hurd was privy to a "highly confidential" analysis of Oracle's competitiveness against HP.
"Hurd's actions are a serious threat to HP's business," HP lawyers wrote in the lawsuit, which was filed in California Superior Court for Santa Clara County.
Unless stopped, HP said, Hurd would diminish the value of HP's trade secrets, hurt customer relationships and "give Oracle a strategic advantage as to where to allocate or not allocate resources and exploit the knowledge of HP's strengths and weaknesses."
Hurd declined to comment.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, Ellison called the lawsuit "vindictive" and said that HP is acting with "utter disregard" for the companies' partnership, customers, investors and employees. He raised the possibility that the strife could damage that relationship.
"The HP board is making it virtually impossible for Oracle and HP to continue to cooperate and work together in the IT marketplace," Ellison said.
An outright breakup between HP and Oracle seems unlikely, however, because the companies' technologies are so closely intertwined.
These types of cases often end up with a court ordering disputed executives to stay away from certain parts of their new employers' businesses. Hurd's deep involvement with all aspects of HP's businesses could complicate his case.
Still, the lawsuit may only delay Oracle's ability to put Hurd to work.
"In the end, it is likely going to be difficult for HP to prevail," said Kenneth Freeman, dean of Boston University's School of Management. "It's usually a very difficult area to enforce."
HP itself was on the other end of this type of case last year, after it hired David Donatelli, a veteran of the data-storage industry, from EMC Corp. HP was temporarily prohibited from letting Donatelli start work as an executive vice president because of a lawsuit by EMC. A court later ruled that Donatelli could work for HP, but under certain restrictions that split up some of his responsibilities.
Hurd resigned from HP last month after an investigation uncovered inaccurate expense reports connected with Hurd's outings with an actress and HP contractor named Jodie Fisher, who later claimed that her work helping organize HP events dried up after she rebuffed Hurd's advances.
Hurd, 53, who is married with two children, denies making any advances on Fisher. Hurd also insists he didn't prepare his own expenses and didn't try to conceal his outings with Fisher, which often included dinner after the events Fisher helped organize and that Hurd attended.
Ellison loudly came to Hurd's defense after Hurd was forced out of HP last month.
The Oracle CEO has said the HP board's decision to publicly disclose the harassment claim against Hurd amounted to "cowardly corporate political correctness." He noted the board had found that Hurd didn't violate the company's sexual-harassment policies.
HP has emphasized that its board voted unanimously for Hurd's resignation.
Shares of HP, which is based on Palo Alto, fell 42 cents, or 1 percent, to close Tuesday at $39.92. Shares of Oracle, based in Redwood City, increased $1.34, or 5.9 percent, to $24.26.

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