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SAN FRANCISCO – Oracle announced Wednesday that Mark Hurd, one of two directors of the large software company, would take leave to deal with undisclosed medical issues.
Mr. Hurd's permission means that Safra Catz, the other executive director, and Larry Ellison, president and chief technology officer of Oracle, will run the company for an indefinite period.
Oracle also announced the financial results of its first fiscal quarter Wednesday afternoon, a day earlier than expected. The company and other well-established technology companies are under intense pressure as customers stop paying early to use software running on their own computers for the benefit of subscription offers provided through cloud services.
The company, whose summer term is often the weakest of the year, said its net profit was down 6% from the previous year.
Shares of Oracle, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., Lost about 2% of their value after trading hours.
The announcement of Mr. Hurd's disappearance took place the week before the big annual conference of Oracle in San Francisco.
"Although we all worked hard together to close the first quarter, I decided I needed to spend time focusing on my health," said Hurd, 62, in a message to employees. "At my request, the board of directors has granted sick leave."
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During a conference call, Ms. Catz told the analysts that she and Mr. Ellison should have no difficulty in assuming Mr. Hurd's responsibilities during his leave.
"He has to focus on his health and take care of himself," she said.
Mr. Hurd, considered one of the most knowledgeable managers in the technology industry, spent 25 years with NCR Enterprise Technology before moving to Silicon Valley to become Hewlett's Chief Executive Officer. Packard. He led HP for five years before being ousted in 2010 after a highly publicized scandal regarding his relationship with a company consultant.
Mr. Hurd was quickly hired by Oracle, who competes with his former company and has been fighting legal battles against other software companies and Google. Most recently, he has been particularly involved in Oracle's response to the move to cloud-based subscription offerings.
"I think he's very good at what the company has to perform," said Seth Lippincott, director of research at Nucleus Research, a company that studies information technology.
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