The report in the Wall Street Journal of the possibility that Oracle is about to hire ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd are being circulated Sunday the length and breadth of the World Wide Web.

It was Oracle's chief executive Larry Ellison who criticized Hewlett-Packard's board last month for pushing Mark Hurd out, saying it "just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.

Ellison sent an email to The New York Times saying, among other things:

"“In losing Mark Hurd, the HP board failed to act in the best interest of HP’s employees, shareholders, customers and partners. The HP board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false.”

So if Ellison were to strengthen Oracle's management team by bringing Hurd on board, who could possibly be surprised?