Oracle which has hired Mark Hurd (right) as co-president, will pay an annual salary of $950,000, and has made him eligible for a bonus of up to $10m in 2011.

Hurd, forced to resign on the basis of falsified expenses and an 'inappropriate relationship', but with a substantial severance package ($35m-$40m) is now targetted with 'we don't want him, but you can't have him' HP approach, called "vindictive" by Larry Ellison, (left) Oracle’s CEO , who has accused HP of making it “virtually impossible” for the two companies to co-operate.

HP is developing quite a name for asking its CEO's to resign, as with Carly Fiorina (right)(1999-2005). Fiorina is  now a board director at Revolution Health Group and computer security company, Cybertrust, on the board at  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company foundry. She joined board of trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is also an Honorary Fellow of London Business School.

HP acknowledges: “Oracle is an important partner, and HP will continue to work with them to deliver the solutions that our customers need.” Many customers run Oracle databases on top of high-capacity HP computers, and Mr Ellison’s blunt statements hit investor sentiment, with HP shares falling around 3%.

HP's best gambit would be to stop wasting time and focus on the main issue at hand: finding themselves a really top CEO, (having duly warned him/her that future cards may yet be a requested resignation.)