Please Hurd, Don’t Hammer ’Em

Good thing Hewlett-Packard got rid of Mark Hurd. Because his heart evidently belongs to Oracle. Trotted out during the company’s earnings call Thursday, just 10 days after his appointment as co-president, the former HP CEO proclaimed his new employer market leader.

“Over the past 25 years I’ve competed against and partnered with Oracle,” Hurd said during his first public appearances on Oracle’s behalf. “I don’t believe there is any other company in the industry better than Oracle. There is no one else in the market with the software and hardware assets that can match it.”

Although there might have been last month when Hurd was still at HP (HPQ).

In any event, it was an interesting moment coming so recently after Hurd’s scandal-ridden ouster from HP and the breach of contract suit the company brought against him for accepting a job at longtime rival Oracle (ORCL). Evidently, he doesn’t think there’s much of a chance of HP preventing him from keeping his new job, and he’s not above indulging in a bit of theatrics to demonstrate it.

“This is a very well-run company,” Hurd said later in the call. “We want to grow, and we want to grow profitably. That’s my priority. We want to have the best sales force on the planet, and offer the best support. That’s what I am working on.”