Tag Archives: Mark Hurd

Computers

Oracle's Mark Hurd talks Fusion Applications, customer satisfaction and SAP's HANA

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As co-president of Oracle, Mark Hurd is tasked with selling an ever-increasing array of new software and hardware products, such as the Exadata database machine and Fusion Applications, while figuring out how to keep the company’s vast installed base happy and fending off competition from the likes of SAP.

Hurd spoke to IDG News Service on a variety of topics during an interview at the Collaborate user group conference in Denver. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation.

IDGNS: Oracle has said there are more than 400 customers of Fusion Applications, which became generally available in October 2011. Are you happy with the rate of Fusion Applications adoption?

Hurd: We sort of think of it in different categories. If we went to HCM [human capital management], we think we’re doing quite well. In terms of cloud, SaaS deals, we think we’re winning all deals internationally in HCM. We think we’re doing quite well now in the U.S. We’ve got a great team, our product is maturing, we’ve got lots of go-lives, references, etcetera. In sales automation, we have a tougher competitor. We’ve made a number of acquisitions in the social space. We’re integrating those into sales automation. We’re going to market later with that product than with HCM, and that’s the place where we’re really driving hard for more business. We don’t typically think of Fusion Apps as a single thing. We think of it more in these various pillars.

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From: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2034181/oracles-mark-hurd-talks-fusion-applications-customer-satisfaction-and-saps-hana.html#tk.rss_all

Computers

Oracle wants to be easier to work with, Mark Hurd says

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Oracle’s sales force isn’t usually seen as the easiest to work with, with customers bombarded by multiple account representatives from different product areas.

But changes are in store, according to Oracle co-President Mark Hurd, who spoke this week in Denver at the Collaborate conference, which is put on by three Oracle user groups.

Oracle’s sales force is going to get bigger, Hurd said, but it will also get more competent. Sales people that used to hawk multiple products will now hawk just one, giving them more specialized knowledge, he said.

“In my core, I believe salespeople that don’t know their products are frankly worthless to you,” he said.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Dell Tries to Pacify a Hungry Icahn

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By Michael Lewis, The Motley Fool

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Dell has offered its three suitors millions to cover bid expenses, but with caveats. For activist investor Carl Icahn, who is the last suitor and holds the highest bid of more than $15.60 per share, this means he has to be very un-Carl Icahn-like in his proposal. Clearly, the Dell special committee wants this process to go down smoothly, without proxy battles and costly litigation. Where are we with the Dell takeover, and should investors believe Icahn’s estimate that comes in north of $20 per share for the company?

Three houses
As has been widely reported by now, the Dell sale has attracted three bids in its “go shop” period, which concluded at the end of last month. The first player is founder and current CEO Michael Dell, who has partnered with private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners to offer $13.65 per share — valuing the company at $24.4 billion. The stock trades over $14 today.

The second suitor is private-equity group Blackstone. As mentioned in a prior article, Blackstone stepped into the ring with an interesting card — former Hewlett-Packard executive Mark Hurd. The firm believes Hurd, not Dell (the human), could bring Dell (the company) back to relevance as he did with his former employer. Blackstone’s offer came in higher than Michael Dell‘s at $14.25 per share.

The third and final suitor, as mentioned, is Icahn and his holding company, Icahn Enterprises . As usual, Icahn is the wild card in the bunch, vowing to take the company on via proxy fights and lawsuits if he doesn’t get what he wants. Icahn Enterprises currently owns roughly 100 million shares — or more than $1.4 billion worth of Dell stock. He also leads the pack with a bid of $15.65 per share. Before his bid, the investor publicly expressed his opinion that the company is worth more than $22 per share.

What’s a special committee to do?

Pay for play
Dell’s committee is paying all three parties millions of dollars to cover their due diligence — which may seem a little odd, but it sounds to me like they just don’t want to beleaguer the issue. It’s apparently a very peaceful, generous committee.

For Carl Icahn and Icahn Enterprises, the gift package comes in at $25 million. This good gesture came with a note, and one that I can’t imagine reads well on Icahn’s desk.

Specifically, the committee chastised Icahn as having “threatened the Company’s directors with ‘years of litigation’ and a proxy fight if they do not conduct the transaction process in the manner” he prefers. Basically, if Carl Icahn acts like Carl Icahn during this process, he will not be gifted the $25 million, and the committee will be very upset.

Sounds like cannon fodder for the king of corporate raiding.

The word
Looking at the market price, which hovers above Michael Dell‘s offer and below those of the other two, investors and analysts seem to …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Computers

Hewlett-Packard: Tough years for a Silicon Valley pioneer

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It’s been a turbulent decade at Hewlett-Packard, with board members and CEOs resigning or being ousted for all manner of colorful reasons, including strategic missteps, accusations of spying on journalists and alleged sexual harassment.

The latest moves came last week, when two directors resigned and Ray Lane said he would step down as chairman of HP‘s board following HP‘s ill-fated Autonomy acquisition.

The tumult started in 2005 with the ouster of Carly Fiorina, who had disagreements with the board over strategy. It worsened the following year with the so-called “pretexting” scandal and took a surreal turn three years ago when Mark Hurd resigned after an alleged affair with an actress.

IDGNS
Carly Fiorina

In that time, HP‘s reputation has been dented and its stock price has plummeted.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Reality Check: The DJIA Highs Are Partly a Sham, Five Big Drags with Runner-Up Drags

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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The news of the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting new highs this week is certainly good news. The problem is that the news comes with some serious caveats. We just featured that there are really only seven of the 30 DJIA component stocks that would be needed to take the DJIA up even higher to 15,000. The rest of the market could stay the same, but there are some serious DJIA laggards that have to be considered when you see that the market is back to all-time highs.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is perhaps the biggest disappointment of all DJIA stocks. After all, GE probably represents the broad economy more than any other single DJIA stock. It has business and personal finance, oil, power, energy, appliances, health care and many other aspects covering each sector of the economy. At $23.75, and with a market cap of about $245 billion, GE‘s stock is barely half of its share price from late 2007, and on the chart its stock would have to rise about 150% before taking out the 2001 highs back when valuations were silly at about 30 times earnings. GE has recovered well over 200% from its lows, but it its share price and market value are a fraction of the peak before the recession.

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) may have been the best DJIA stock of 2012, but it is a shell of its former glory, if you count the price of the stock after the recession. In 2006 and in 2007 Bank of America was a $40 and $50 stock. Even after doubling from its lows, and even backing out a few dollars worth of dividends since then, has the stock at $11.84. It is very possible that Bank of America may not see its old highs for a generation or more, even if Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) have a large stake. Its market cap is $128 billion, and it seems hard to imagine that shares would rise 200% to 300% further in any short period without hyperinflation.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) cannot win for losing, and it has been losing. This is not even due to the recession, but due to a change in technology demand toward Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and to smartphones and mobile computing. Mismanagement was another nail in the coffin, and even Meg Whitman has warned that the turnaround might not be seen fully until 2015 or so. The good news is that shares are actually back above $20, and that is approaching a double off of the lows of 2012. The bad news is that HP was basically a $50 stock back in 2010 and early 2011, when Mark Hurd was in charge. That company has been lost ever since Hurd was canned.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is another huge drag on the DJIA. Its stock is around $8.50 now and only has a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Computers

HP still innovating, still cutting jobs to restructure, CEO says

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Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO Meg Whitman said last week that the company has reached the halfway point in its restructuring, with 15,000 employees left to cut to meet its layoff target.

HP last May announced plans to reduce its workforce by some 27,000 people out of a staff of 350,000. The company is using layoffs and early retirement incentives to reach its goal by the end of next year.

Meg Whitman

At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference last week, Whitman talked about the challenges and opportunities at HP, but also praised a predecessor, former HP CEO Mark Hurd, for some of the steps he took.

Whitman said that something that Hurd did “very well” was to centralize global functions, including human resources, information technology, finance and legal. “Kudos to Mark Hurd for doing that,” she said.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld