Pender's Blog by Lee Pender, RCPU Editor

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Firing Hurd Round the World Continues To Haunt HP

Mark Hurd, you sly devil, you. Not only did you hire a kind-of, sort-of adult actress as a "marketing consultant" of some sort, you also -- allegedly -- went behind your board's back to settle her sexual harassment claim. HP's board wanted to probe (don't make a joke...don't make a joke) the claim itself, but you took care of it on the down low -- according to the Wall Street Journal, anyway.

This story just gets better all the time, especially now that it has led to a fantastic round of "respectful" (always respectful, of course) sniping in the press about why Hurd really got canned. The New York Times claims to have gotten to the bottom of things (oh, don't make a joke...), but SiliconBeat, which we think is part of the San Jose Mercury-News, has shot back with a respectful "columnist, please."

Who's right? We don't care. We just hope that know-it-all insiders will keep arguing over this stuff so that we'll have enough RCPU fodder to get through the month of August. (By the way, HP, call me.)

Posted on August 16, 2010


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