In a letter to the New York Times, Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison said that the HP board committed a mistake in forcing the resignation of the company’s CEO Mark Hurd last week; after a woman contractor, the former actress Jodie Fisher, accused him of sexual harassment. 

Ellison, who is a friend of the ousted HP chief executive, said in the letter: “The HP board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs” in 1985, after his fall out with the then-CEO John Sculley.

To further underscore that Hurd’s ouster was an erroneous decision, Ellison said that the HP board had itself admitted that a complete investigation of Fisher’s sexual harassment allegations against Hurd had been found to be “utterly false.”

The board had ascertained that Hurd had not violated HP’s harassment policy, though he had made inaccurate expense reports – ranging between $1,000 and $20,000 – as well as concealed a personal relationship with Fisher.

Ellison further said that the HP board was initially divided 6-to-4 over whether to divulge the sexual-harassment claim; and it was later that they decided to make the pronouncement unanimous.

Meanwhile, reiterating that the board was unified in seeking Hurd’s resignation for violations of HP’s business- conduct standards, the company’s spokeswoman Mylene Mangalindan said: “The board voted unanimously for Mr. Hurd’s resignation. And that was the only vote the board took on this issue.”