Oracle Grappled for Months Over Disclosure of CEO Hurd’s Illness

Oracle Corp. said Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd is taking a leave of absence for unspecified health-related reasons, disclosing the move along with quarterly earnings on Sept. 11.

The software company made the announcement a day earlier than the results were scheduled to be released, after Bloomberg News contacted Oracle in relation to a story about the executive’s health.

The company grappled for more than a year with one of the most harrowing dilemmas a corporation can face: when—and whether—to disclose a serious illness that has befallen a senior executive.

Mark Hurd

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Hurd, one of the company’s two CEOs, is struggling ...