Larry Ellison, Oracle's Chief Executive Officer, says that Hewlett-Packard's (HP) board was wrong to force CEO Mark Hurd to resign. In a letter to the New York Times, Ellison compared the development to Apple's firing of Steve Jobs in the 1980s, saying that "the HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago."

Hurd left HP last week in the wake of sexual harassment claim put forth by a contractor. The woman, a former actress named Jodie Fisher, helped organize executive events. While the company's board found that Hurd didn't violate sexual harassment policy, it came to the conclusion that he made inaccurate expense reports and concealed a personal relationship with Fisher.

"In losing Mark Hurd, the HP board failed to act in the best interest of HP's employees, shareholders, customers and partners... The HP board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false," Ellison said.

He says that the board had a vote of 6-to-4 over whether they would make the sexual-harassment claim public. The directors later came to a unanimous decision.

Mylene Mangalindan, a spokeswoman for HP, said that all board members sought Hurd's resignation for violations of the company's business- conduct guidelines. "As the company stated previously, the board voted unanimously for Mr. Hurd's resignation... And that was the only vote the board took on this issue," she said.

"Unless he's a member of this board of directors and has a track record where it counts, his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt... We are monitoring developments and continue to determine whether HP stock is worthy of us holding it in the long term," said Michael Cuggino, an HP investor and president of Permanent Portfolio Funds, which owns 713,000 shares in the company.

HP claims that Hurd submitted expense reports that concealed his relationship with Fisher. The payments, which range from between $1,000 to $20,000, went to pay for meals and travel. In a statement, Fisher says that she didn't have "an affair or intimate sexual relationship."

Gloria Allred, Fisher's lawyer, described her client as "a single mom focused on raising her young son. She has a degree in political science from Texas Tech and was recently the vice president of a commercial real estate company."

Allred adds that Fisher had also been employed by the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control. Fisher also has worked as an actress and appeared in films such as "Intimate Obsession," "Body of Influence 2" and "Sheer Passion."

Cathie Lesjak, chief financial officer of HP, has taken over Hurd's position as interim CEO.