SAN FRANCISCO – Former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Mark Hurd is in talks to take a top executive job at Oracle Corp., the database software maker run by his friend Larry Ellison, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said Sunday.

It wasn’t immediately clear what job Hurd would take. But the person told The Associated Press that Ellison, the only person to serve as Oracle’s CEO since he founded the company 33 years ago, wouldn’t be leaving that post. This person emphasized that the talks were not yet finalized.

The person was not authorized to discuss the confidential negotiations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The possibility of Hurd landing at Oracle isn’t a surprise. Ellison was vocal in coming to Hurd’s defense after Hurd’s sudden resignation Aug. 6 in the wake of a sexual harassment investigation.

Hurd’s resignation was stunning because he was widely praised on Wall Street.

Investors praised his cost-cutting; HP announced about 50,000 job cuts over the five years Hurd was CEO. Wall Street also liked that he engineered more than $20 billion in acquisitions, which helped HP reduce its dependence on printer ink for the bulk of its profits. HP is now a major player in technology services and computer networking.

Those traits could help Hurd at Oracle, which is also known for aggressive dealmaking and cost cuts.

Hurd would also join Oracle at an interesting juncture for both companies.

Oracle, the No. 1 database software maker, and HP, the No. 1 personal computer and printer maker, are longtime partners that are increasingly squaring off against each other. Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems last year made it a competitor to HP in the market for computer servers.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Hurd’s job talks with Oracle earlier.

In coming to Hurd’s defense following his resignation, Ellison called HP’s decision to oust Hurd the worst personnel decision since Apple Inc. forced out Steve Jobs — another of Ellison’s friends — 25 years ago. Jobs later returned and lifted Apple out of a funk, turning it onto a top maker of consumer-electronics products.

Ellison has said the HP board’s decision to publicly disclose the harassment claim against Hurd amounted to "cowardly corporate political correctness," as the board had found that Hurd didn’t violate the company’s sexual harassment policies.

The investigation unearthed inaccurate expense reports connected with Hurd’s outings with his eventual accuser, an actress and HP contractor named Jodie Fisher.

The substance of her claim was that her work helping organize HP events dried up after she rebuffed Hurd’s advances. Hurd, 53, who is married with two children, denies making any advances on Fisher. Hurd also insists he didn’t prepare his own expenses and didn’t try to conceal his outings with Fisher, which often included dinner after the events Fisher helped organize and that Hurd attended.

HP has emphasized that its board voted unanimously for Hurd’s resignation.

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES |
Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:46pm EDT

LOS ANGELES – Amazon.com Inc. is talking with major media companies about offering unlimited views of older TV shows and movies online, as it struggles to stay relevant to consumers flocking to Apple Inc.’s iTunes a la carte store and Netflix Inc.’s all-you-can-eat subscription plan.

Amazon has approached several companies, including Viacom Inc., Time Warner Inc., and Sony Corp., three people familiar with the matter said Tuesday. They requested anonymity because the talks are ongoing.

The talks are at an early stage and focus on offering TV shows and movies that have already been available on home video, according to one person.

Amazon intends to link the service to its Amazon Prime membership, a $79 per year plan that gives customers discounted shipping costs. But some media companies are averse to having their offerings potentially perceived as freebies, another person said.

A spokesman for Amazon, which is based in Seattle, said the company would not speculate on future business deals.

News of the talks emerged in The Wall Street Journal, a day before Apple is expected to announce a new TV offering and a revamped iTunes. An Apple spokesman also declined to comment.

Apple has also been talking with several media companies and is nearing a deal to offer recently aired TV shows from The Walt Disney Co.’s ABC and News Corp.’s Fox for 99 cents. The shows could be downloaded but would expire 48 hours after purchase. They are intended for fans who want to catch up on shows even on airplanes or other places without wireless Internet service.

Apple is also expected to cut the price of its Apple TV device. Pre-empting the move, Roku Inc., whose set-top box allows Netflix subscribers to watch older movies and TV shows, cut the prices of its basic high-definition device by $30 to $69.99 on Monday.

Many companies are trying to bolster their online offerings but media companies are being careful not to upend lucrative existing businesses, including that of selling TV shows as reruns to other channel operators or TV stations.

Time Warner in particular is trying to preserve the business of monthly cable or satellite TV subscriptions by pushing its "TV Everywhere" plan. In the plan, it gives paying subscribers of upper tier channel plans unlimited online access to the current season of shows such as TNT’s "The Closer."

Meanwhile, Hulu, the online video service jointly owned by Disney, News Corp. and NBC Universal, kicked off a $10-a-month subscription TV plan in June. It offers episodes from the current and past seasons of many ABC, Fox and NBC shows such as "Glee," "The Office," and "House," although subscribers still have to watch advertisements.

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AP Business Writers Rachel Metz and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco and Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this report.