The co-CEO of software giant Oracle, Mark Hurd, died on Friday (Oct 18) at the age of 62. Last month, he had been on medical leave. In the meantime, it was not immediately clear that how Oracle’s leadership structure is going to be change after the sudden death of Hurd.
Oracle Co-Chief Mark Hurd Dies At 62
On the other hand, the company said in September that co-CEO Safra Catz as well as Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison were the ones who shared Hurd’s responsibilities while he was on leave.
Ellison said in a statement that was posted to Hurd’s personal website, “Oracle has lost a brilliant and beloved leader who personally touched the lives of so many of us during his decade at Oracle,”
At the same time, Oracle also declined to comment beyond the statement. The company also did not reveal the information of why Hurd went on medical leave, and not even the cause of his death.
Earlier, Hurd had led Hewlett-Packard, comprising when the media leaked the investigation on the company that spiraled into a spying scandal in the year 2006. He then stepped down from HP in the year 2010 amidst the allegations of sexual harassment along with fabricated expense reports. Hurd on the other hand denied all such allegations at the time.
The investigation of the company ultimately cleared Hurd of the sexual harassment charges but at the same time said he do has violated HP’s conduct standards.
Mark Hurd Twitter Reaction
After that year, Ellison also named Hurd and Catz as the co-presidents of Oracle. In the year 2014, when Ellison stepped down his name from the post of CEO, he then named the pair in order to replace him. Ellison also described Hurd in the statement today by stating that he has been a close friend and trusted colleague.
With the Hurd’s death, it is being the latest setback for the company in what has been a difficult few years for Oracle. As the company transitions from traditional enterprise products to cloud computing, the company has struggled to match their biggest competitors such as Amazon, Google as well as Salesforce.
In the month of July, the Pentagon has also issued a strong rebuke against the company, where the accusation was of using “poorly-informed and often manipulative speculation” in a disagreement of more than a $10 billion cloud computing contract.
Mark Hurd Death Reason
In that case, a federal judge ruled against Oracle’s attempt in order to stop the bid procedure. Oracle on the other hand had also argued that the contract should be broken into smaller contracts in spite of lumped into one large procurement.
