HP's Hurd may be heading to Oracle

Could Mark Hurd be a surprise guest at Oracle World?

Mark Hurd, regular Oracle OpenWorld 2010 attendee and ex-HP executive, could attend this year, but this time as a senior member of the Oracle team.

The event will take place in San Francisco on 19 September. A report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said that sources "familiar with the matter" had confirmed the parties were in talks.

Hurd resigned as HP CEO last month after sexual harassment allegations by a former marketing executive.

An investigation found that Hurd had not breached HP's policy, but it did find that an inaccurate expenses claim had been filed.

After Hurd resigned, Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison emailed the New York Times to say, "The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago."

The appointment of Hurd would be a coup for San Francisco-based Oracle, especially with his deep knowledge of HP, and HP's performance under his leadership.

HP's third-quarter results showed revenue up 11 per cent to $30.7bn (£20bn), and profits at $2.3bn year on year.

Although Oracle was primarily a software firm, Sun's hardware arm could be the ideal place for Hurd – where he could instil confidence around Oracle's plans for Sun's servers.