Hurd not hurting

What is it with the board of HP? They hire Carly Fiorina who nearly single-handedly runs this legendary company into the ground before being shown the door. Now they run off former CEO Mark Hurd on the basis of allegations of improper expense reports.

I don’t know all the facts in the case, but I can say it would be highly unusual if, as the CEO of a major company, Hurd actually filed his own expense reports. No, it would be stupid if he did. No company in its right mind would let its CEO waste his time on stupid shit like that.

And what about the woman in the alleged harassment case that got the ball rolling against Hurd, Jodie Fisher? Sure, she’s got a history as an actress in Skinemax movies but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a tease or golddigger. It also doesn’t rule it out, though. Hurd denies doing anything with her. He also denies doing his own expenses, and I can certainly believe that. Ultimately HP agreed that Hurd didn’t violate its policies but came out with the expense claim, which as I said seems dubious.

So, HP runs him off under questionable circumstances. They present him with a fat golden parachute said to be up to $40 million. I don’t know about you, but I could find plenty of things to occupy me with $40 mil in my pocket. Hurd, though, decides he isn’t done with the working world and accepts a sweet offer with HP rival (and partner) Oracle. HP then goes batshit and sues for breach of Hurd’s noncompete contract.

Hurd lives in a far wealthier world than I do. While the 99.9% of us living in the lower tax brackets would’ve been fine taking the $40 million and dropping off the face of the Earth for a while, Hurd opted not to. And you know what? I’m perfectly fine with that. A tech company CEO only has so many similar jobs available and it should be his right to go back to work. Though I’ll never get remotely close to having the bank Hurd has, I understand and respect his decision.

By suing Hurd HP is shooting itself in the foot, especially since California courts have shown again and again how tough it is to prevail in noncompete cases. Their mistake has shown in the stock market today, when HP’s stock took a dive while Oracle’s climbed. Regardless of the merit their investigation of Hurd’s actions may have, by filing this suit HP’s board is admitting they’re out of ideas. What a shame for a once-proud tech company.