The Rise and Fall of Mark Hurd as H-P Chief

12 August 2010

File photo of Mark Hurd

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Mark Hurd got credit for building Hewlett-Packard into the world's largest technology company. H-P is the top seller of personal computers and printers. It had sales last year of almost one hundred fifteen billion dollars.

Mr. Hurd became chief executive officer five years ago after H-P ousted Carly Fiorina. Later he also became chairman. Under his leadership H-P stock doubled in price.

So the news out of Palo Alto, California, last Friday came to many as a shock. Mark Hurd was out.

Investigators said he had falsified expense records to hide spending on a woman who worked with H-P. Reports said the amount was about twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Hurd is married. He earned twenty-four million dollars last year.

In June the former marketing contractor, Jodie Fisher, accused Mr. Hurd of sexual harassment. Through her lawyer, she said she was "surprised and saddened" that he lost his job. She said they had settled her claim privately. The sometime actress also said they never had an "intimate sexual relationship."

H-P and private investigators found no violation of the sexual harassment policy at the company. But they did find that Mr. Hurd violated H-P's Standards of Business Conduct. These suggest that before employees make a decision, they should "consider how it would look in a news story."