On Friday, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Mark Hurd resigned from the company, after an investigation into possible sexual harassment found that Hurd had a relationship with a contractor for the company, which resulted in her receiving unnecessary payments from the company.

The investigation did not turn up any evidence of sexual harassment on the part of Hurd, but it did turn up actions performed by Hurd that were deemed to be detrimental to the company. These actions seem to stem from extraordinarily large payments made to a women who Hurd had relations with. This woman was a contractor who did work for the company.

Hurd has been everything HP could want as a CEO. Revenues and profits have increased significantly since Hurd took over as head of the company in 2005. The resignation comes as a major surprise, after all the beneficial things he has done for Hewlitt-Packard. No immediate long term replacement has been chosen, but Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak will temporarily replace Hurd as Interim CEO. The company is said to be looking both internally and externally for a replacement.

HP stock fell a staggering 10% yesterday after the news broke, but has been inching it’s way back up in after hours.