Where’s Léo? (Update: Léo Spotted in Japan)
There is no reason to go into great detail on the Léo Apotheker, Larry Ellison, SAP, Oracle, and HP debacle. Frankly, this whole thing is a long twisted mess that could take more time than many of you have to spare. So, let us break it down for you here.
SAP is in a legal battle with Oracle over stolen IP. Léo Apotheker was the CEO of SAP at the time of the said theft. Larry Ellison claims that he has proof Léo Apotheker had knowledge of SAP’s theft from Oracle despite many claims that he does not. Why would we care? Well, as many of you know Léo Apotheker is now the official CEO of our very own HP. Now we don’t want to jump to conclusions, but one has to assume that Larry Ellison is basically slandering good ol’ Léo for taking the place of Ellison’s buddy Mark Hurd (ex HP CEO) or did Léo actually do something wrong?
Reuters reports that Oracle has hired private investigators to find out where the heck Léo is hiding. Apotheker officially reported to duty a week ago as HP’s new CEO and still has not made any public appearance, speech, or statement. There hasn’t even been a press release from HP in regards to Apotheker taking over as CEO. Kind of strange for such a big company or a man in his position don’t you think?
The reason for all of this? Apotheker is hiding because he does not want to be subpoenaed to court by Oracle. The best part is HP does not deny this and may possibly be encouraging it. Their response in regards to this whole matter is as follows:
Oracle had ample opportunity to question Léo during his sworn deposition in October 2008 and chose not to include him as a live trial witness until he was named CEO of HP. Given Léo’s limited knowledge of and role in the matter, Oracle’s last-minute effort to require him to appear live at trial is no more than an effort to harass him and interfere with his duties and responsibilities as HP’s CEO.
So is Léo dodging the public eye because he has something to hide or is it in HP’s best interest to keep him away from the pubic eye and this whole mess? Maybe they are hoping that this whole thing will blow over. We honestly don’t know, but it does make for an interesting story none the less. We will keep everyone posted on the outcome of this matter so stay tuned.
Update: Well, it seems that Léo hasn’t been entirely off the grid. Seems that a few days ago he was in Japan giving an interview to Nikkei BP on Nov. 5th. Other than that he is still a ghost as far as the public is concerned. Also, HP has refused to accept the subpoena saying that Oracle is simply trying to harass Apotheker whom just started his new job last week. They have again declined to disclose his location stating the following:
We don’t discuss the schedules or specific whereabouts of our executives
As always we will continue to fill everyone in on the details of this fiasco as it rolls in. One thing is for certain HP seems to have a lot of chaos surrounding their CEO’s this year!
[Source: Reuters via The Business Insider]
