Ellison Fires A Shot At New HP CEO

Larry Ellison, the founder and CEO of Oracle ORCL, the world's largest enterprise software maker, said he can prove that new Hewlett-Packard HPQ CEO Leo Apotheker ran a scheme while he was CEO of SAP AG SAP to steal software from Oracle. SAP has already admitted as much. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on Monday to determine how much SAP should pay Oracle to settle the case, with Oracle seeking some $2 billion in damages and SAP saying that tens of millions of dollars would be reasonable, according to Reuters. Ellison said Oracle will subpeona Apotheker. The move is the latest in what can only be deemed one of Silicon Valley's most sour bitter rivalries. Former HP CEO Mark Hurd has joined Oracle and Ellison was not shy about chastising HP's treatment of Hurd. HP and Oracle formerly enjoyed positive ties as the companies would bundle their software and hardware to be sold together. That relationship has fallen on hard times recently and is showing no signs of being far more than a lover's quarrel. Hewlett-Packard responded by saying that Oracle had deposed Apotheker in October 2008 and that Ellison was insisting that he now testify in a bid to irritate his rival, Reuters reported.