Writing in The Atlantic, Daniel Indiviglio asks tough questions regarding former HP CEO Mark Hurd’s apparent move to Oracle.

He was forced to step down from his post due to a sexual harassment suit with a contractor in conjunction with filing mislabeled expenses. He had quite a soft landing. Just one month later, we now learn he will be hired as the president of Oracle, the second largest business software company. This should raise the obvious question: do business ethics really matter?

HP’s own internal investigation, according to Indiviglio, resulted in a ruling where he “didn’t violate the company’s policy, but did violate its ethical standards.” Is The Atlantic right in pointing this out as an example of business interests trumping business ethics?