SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oracle Corp has offered its new co-president, former Hewlett-Packard chief Mark Hurd, a hiring package with a bonus of up to $10 million and options potentially worth tens of millions more.

Oracle, the world's No. 3 software maker, named Hurd co-president on Monday, a month after he stepped down from HP because of a scandal involving expense reports and a female contractor.

According to the offer letter, filed yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Oracle is offering Hurd a starting annual base salary of $950,000 and a bonus of as much as $10 million, plus options to purchase 10 million Oracle common shares after the next board meeting.

Fred Whittlesey, an executive compensation consultant with the Hay Group, said it was difficult to estimate the value of stock options because no one knows where Oracle's share price may go in the future. He said a rough rule of thumb holds that an option has an accounting value worth around one-third of its face value.

Using the valuation of options disclosed by Oracle in its most recent annual report, Whittlesey estimated Hurd's hiring package to be worth about $72 million, with $66 million of that in options that vest over four years.

That estimate, which Whittlesey called "theoretical", is based on four years of service from Hurd and Oracle shares rising to $30.60. Oracle shares closed at $24.14 yesterday.