Larry Ellison: HP Board Must 'Resign En Masse Right Away'

Oracle (ORCL) CEO Larry Ellison doesn't think highly of Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) board. In fact, he thinks the entire board should resign -- pronto.

Why? Because "the madness must stop," according to the fighter-jet-flying billionaire.

Ellison made his comments in an email sent to The Wall Street Journal in which he said he was at a loss for words to describe HP's hiring of Leo Apotheker, a former chief of German software giant SAP (SAP), to replace Mark Hurd as CEO.

"I'm speechless," he wrote. "HP had several good internal candidates...but instead they pick a guy who was recently fired because he did such a bad job of running SAP."

HP's board has faced criticism for its sometimes baffling decisions for years. Ellison's comments echo some of the criticism leveled at HP over the choice of Apotheker to replace Hurd. (Read why Apotheker may actually be just what HP needs.)

The Oracle CEO didn't mince words when it comes to his view of HP's board. "None of the HP board members own much HP stock so they have little to lose," he wrote. "But the HP employees, customers, partners and shareholders will suffer. "

Ellison added: "The HP board needs to resign en masse ... right away. The madness must stop."

Is this all part of Ellison's master plan to bash HP and drive down its share price so he can swoop in with a bid? An H-P spokeswoman told the paper that Ellison's remarks don't "deserve the dignity of a response."