Oracle Pay Package Could Give Hurd $250 Mil.

Oracle plans to pay newly appointed President Mark Hurd a base salary of $950,000 a year. The company also says the former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO, who was ousted by that company last month, is eligible for a fiscal 2011 bonus of $5 million.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Oracle Corp., based in Redwood City, Calif., added that Hurd’s bonus will not exceed $10 million.

But the biggest part of Hurd’s pay package will be the 10 million stock options Oracle plans to give him. The company said Hurd’s options will carry an exercise price equal to the market value of the shares on the date they are granted. While the filing did not offer a specific date, Oracle shares closed Tuesday at $24.26, which would value 10 million shares at $242.6 million.

Still, Hurd’s future at Oracle was complicated Tuesday when Hewlett-Packard sued Hurd to keep him out of his new job. HP is worried Hurd will use his knowledge of the company to give Oracle an unfair advantage.

Lawsuits of that kind often end with a court ordering an executive to avoid certain parts of their employers’ businesses.

NEW YORK (AP)