Well Played, Mr. Hurd

11:00 AM -- In a year of leaks and pretexts, there's nothing leaky nor phony about HP CEO Mark Hurd's paycheck. Congratulations are in order for Mr. Hurd, who, according to documents recently filed with the SEC, collected an $8.6 million bonus year on top of his $1.4 million salary for 2006.

Maybe he should apologize more often. (See 2006: Storage Business Highlights, 2006: Top 10 Memorable Quotes, and Hurd Apologizes, Probe 'Disturbing'.)

Not to detract from Hurd's kudos, but they're clearly not coming from HP's storage numbers. That operation is hardly blazing a trail for IBM and EMC to follow. (See HP Reshuffles More Software, HP Creates New Biz Unit, Storage Hurts HP's Quarter, and HP Storage Gets off the Deck.) And just last week, a new legal issue surfaced, charging that HP paid off a former Dell exec to learn about its competitor's plans in the printer market.

All that said, it's notable that Hurd's salary package also included $2.75 million worth of relocation costs, which raises the question of just where Mr. Hurd relocated from -- Mars? The Planet Krypton?

Regardless, he now has the means to take a vacation on Sir Richard's shuttle, perhaps to investigate the use of Kryptonite as a way to boost HP's storage fortunes.James Rogers, Senior Editor Byte and Switch