Hurd joins Oracle as co-president, Phillips exits

Industry rumours are confirmed

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd has been appointed co-president of Oracle, the software company announced Monday.

Hurd, who also joined Oracle's board of directors, will serve as co-president alongside Safra Catz. Co-President Charles Phillips has resigned and will step down from the company's board, the company said.

"Mark did a brilliant job at HP and I expect he'll do even better at Oracle," said CEO Larry Ellison in a statement.

Hurd's appointment comes after weekend reports that he was in talks to join Oracle. Hurd left HP in August amid a scandal over an undisclosed relationship with a contractor and falsified expense reports. At the time, Ellison was among Hurd's most vocal supporters, criticising HP's board for its handling of the matter.

Oracle's statement did not specify Hurd's area of responsibility. Catz, the other co-president, handles legal and financial issues and helped to negotiate Oracle's takeover of Sun Microsystems. Both positions report to Ellison.

Hurd will replace Phillips, who was most recently responsible for Oracle's sales and marketing. Phillips had been rumored to be leaving the company after a series of missteps.

Earlier this year, Phillips acknowledged having an affair after romantic pictures of him with a woman who was not his wife appeared on billboards in US cities. In another incident in July, Oracle issued a statement rebutting comments by Phillips that the company had increased its budget for acquisitions over the next five years.