Steve Jobs Tried to Help Mark Hurd Keep His Job at HP

A BusinessWeek feature that looks at whether Meg Whitman can reverse HP's free fall reveals that Steve Jobs tried to help Mark Hurd keep his job as CEO of the company.

Several days after Hurd resigned from as CEO, Jobs reportedly emailed him to ask if he wanted someone to talk to.

Hurd met Jobs at his home in Palo Alto, according to people who know both men but did not wish to be identified, compromising a personal confidence. The pair spent more than two hours together, Jobs taking Hurd on his customary walk around the tree-lined neighborhood. At numerous points during their conversation, Jobs pleaded with Hurd to do whatever it took to set things right with the board so that Hurd could return. Jobs even offered to write a letter to HP’s directors and to call them up one by one.


Jobs reportedly told Hurd that without him the board would 'unwind HP's progress and
send the company spiraling into chaos.'

It appears as though his prediction came true. Hurd went to Oracle where CEO Larry Ellison condemning his ouster from HP as “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago” and HP hired Léo Apotheker as his replacement.

Since then the company has lost over 65% of its share price and nearly $68 billion in value.

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