Tycoon Jack Welch Has Harsh Words For HP Board

Business tycoon and former General Electric CEO Jack Welch Wednesday became the latest high profile executive to publicly criticize Hewlett-Packard’s board for its handling of Mark Hurd's departure as CEO.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Welch suggested that there's more to the story than HP's board is letting on.

’There’s another agenda with Mark Hurd and it hasn’t yet come out. It’s clear this was not a performance issue. This was a dynamic between a board, which appears to be somewhat dysfunctional, and Mark Hurd," Welch said in the Bloomberg interview.

Welch made similar comments to The Wall Street Journal at the World Business Forum in New York on Tuesday, his criticism verging on spiritual condemnation.

’The Hewlett-Packard board has committed sins over the last 10 years,’ he said. ’They have not done one of the primary jobs of a board, which is to prepare the next generation of leadership.’

Next: What's Behind All The Invective?

HP hired Leo Apotheker to replace Hurd as CEO effective November 1.

Welch's claim that HP is lacking in leadership development overall is primarily based on high turnover at the very top. Mark Hurd resigned on August 6 following an investigation into sexual harassment charges and misreported expenses. Hurd replaced Carly Fiorina in 2005 after another tumultuous exit.

Rather than having confidence in their CEOs in the past, Welch told The Wall Street Journal, board members at HP ’end up blowing up the CEO’s and don’t have anyone else in mind to come in. Where the hell was the leadership development? Who are these board members?’

On Monday, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison criticized the Apotheker hire, saying it was time to "stop the madness" at HP. Ellison hired Mark Hurd as Oracle co-president last month, prompting a lawsuit from HP citing "irreparable damage" from Hurd's knowledge of HP trade secrets. The two companies settled on September 20 , and publically affirmed the strength of their thirty year partnership.

Much of Ellison's criticism of HP for initially pushing Hurd out and later hiring Apotheker stems from his close friendship with the former and heated rivalry with the latter when Apotheker was CEO of European software company SAP. Welch, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a dog in this fight.

When asked by The Wall Street Journal if he knew any of the board members whom he was openly criticizing, Welch quipped ’I wouldn’t admit it if I did.’