Mark Hurd, CEO, Oracle To Undergo Medical Sick Leave

Oracle has announced CEO, Mark Hurd will go for a sick leave and he will be absence for health related reasons, on the absence of Hurd, Co-CEO Safra Catz will take on all of software giant’s top duties

Hurd has been largely responsible for overseeing Oracle’s sales, marketing, consulting, support and business units. Mark Hurd said in a company statement on Wednesday that the leave was granted at his request. Hurd has been a chief executive and board director at the Redwood City-based tech company since 2010. He serves alongside Safra Catz, who is also CEO.

This announcement has come just before its fiscal first-quarter results. For the period that ended Aug. 31, Oracle reported earnings, excluding one-time items, of 81 cents a share, on revenue of $9.22 billion.

Hurd had been responsible for overseeing Oracle’s sales and marketing, consulting and Oracle’s “industry-specific global business units,” according to the company’s most recent proxy statement. Catz and Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chief technology officer, will oversee Hurd’s duties during his absence.

“We all wish him a speedy recovery,” Ellison said. “Oracle has an extremely capable CEO in Safra Catz and an extraordinarily deep team of executives, many with long tenure at Oracle.” With this the stock of Oracle fell as much as 4% in after hours trading following the news.

This news has come just one week ahead of Oracle’s annual event to showcase its technology, OpenWorld, is scheduled to take place in San Francisco. Hurd will continue receiving employment benefits during his leave, Oracle said in a statement.