Hurd is one of Oracle’s two CEOs, the other being Safra Catz and the outfit has been moving more to cloud software.

Catz and Oracle founder and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison will cover Hurd’s responsibilities during his absence, the company statement said.

Hurd will continue to receive all employment benefits during his leave, Oracle said, so the exit is not to do with the results. Hurd was named Oracle co-president in September 2010, a month after he was ousted in a controversial fashion from Hewlett-Packard where he had been chief executive since 2005.

Separately, Oracle reported quarterly results a day before its scheduled release. On a post-earnings call with analysts, Catz said, “...as Mark will be taking a leave, we felt it made sense to share all of our news at once.”

Total revenue came in at $9.22 billion, missing estimates of $9.29 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The miss indicated Oracle was struggling to make inroads into the highly competitive cloud computing market dominated by the likes of Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com.

The company also said  it expected second-quarter adjusted profit between 87 cents and 89 cents per share, below estimates of 91 cents per share.

Net income fell to $2.14 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 31, from $2.27 billion a year earlier. On a per share basis, Oracle earned 63 cents per share from 57 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding items, Oracle earned 81 cents per share, in-line with analysts’ expectations.

Oracle also said it plans to buy back an additional $15 billion in stock.