Oracle plans to pay Hurd US$950,000

Oracle plans to pay newly appointed President Mark Hurd a base salary of US$950,000 a year. The company also says the former Hewlett-Packard Company CEO, who was ousted by that company last month, is eligible for a fiscal 2011 bonus of as much as US$10 million.

Oracle released the details of Hurd's pay package in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The biggest part of Hurd's pay package will be the 10 million stock options Oracle plans to give him.

The company said Hurd's options will carry an exercise price equal to the market value of the shares on the date they are granted. While the filing did not offer a specific date, Oracle shares closed on Tuesday at US$24.26, which would value 10 million shares at US$242.6 million.

If he stays with the company, Hurd will be given options to buy another five million shares each year for the next five years.

During HP's most recent fiscal year, Hurd received a pay package as CEO valued at US$24.2 million, according to an AP analysis.

His base pay came to US$1.3 million, with bonuses totalling US$15.8 million and US$6.6 million worth of restricted stock.

Hurd's future at Oracle was complicated on Tuesday when Hewlett-Packard sued Hurd to keep him out of his new job.

HP is worried Hurd will use his knowledge of the company to give Oracle an unfair advantage. Lawsuits of that kind often end with a court ordering an executive to avoid certain parts of their employers' businesses.

HP claims that Hurd won't be able to perform his job at Oracle without spilling HP's trade secrets and violating a confidentiality agreement.

This type of complaint is not unusual in the technology world, nor is the confidentiality agreement that Hurd had signed as part of a severance package from HP that could top $40 million.

Technology companies often require such agreements because workers walk out the door with valuable technical information.

But the stakes are higher with Hurd than a rank-and-file employee, and the lawsuit may delay when Hurd could start his new job.

The latest lawsuit also underscores the growing rancour between HP and Oracle.