Former Oracle Co-CEO Mark Hurd Dies at 62
Mark Hurd, who shared the CEO role at Oracle with Safra Catz until taking a medical leave last month, has died at age 62. Founder Larry Ellison now plans to maintain the company's dual-CEO structure to ensure leadership capacity.
Former Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd passes away at the age of 62, exactly one month after he informs employees about his medical leave of absence. Oracle staffers receive the news early in the morning and share their condolences on Twitter, marking a sudden end to Hurd's nine-year tenure at the database software giant.
Hurd joins Oracle in 2010 after a controversial departure from Hewlett-Packard, where inaccurate expense reports lead to his resignation as CEO and chairman. Larry Ellison, a personal friend and Oracle's founder, brings Hurd on as co-president and ultimately promotes him to co-CEO in 2014, a position he shares with Safra Catz until his recent health issues force him to step away.
Following Hurd's departure and subsequent death, Ellison reaffirms his commitment to a dual-CEO structure for Oracle to prevent leadership bottlenecks. Ellison promises the board of directors that he provides names of internal candidates, including cloud infrastructure executive Don Johnson, to fill the vacant co-CEO role alongside Catz.