According to an analysis by James F. Reda Associates LLC, the new Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO Leo Apotheker will get rich compensation package – one that will be even more generous than the pay package initially received by his predecessor Mark Hurd, who resigned on August 6 after an internal investigation found him in violation of HP’s code of business conduct.

Going by the analysis, Apotheker – the former head of German business software giant SAP - will receive an initial compensation package that may be worth approximately $51.8 million, based on HP’s closing share price of $40.07 Friday.

In comparison, Hurd’s initial pay package in 2005 was valued at nearly $32 million, as estimated by a senior Reda consultant David Schmidt.

While Apotheker’s equity package is richer than that of Hurd, and his $4-million signing bonus is two-fold more that Hurd’s; Apotheker’s $1.2 million base pay and a likely $6-million first-year bonus is quite comparable with Hurd’s initial pay of $1.4 million and yearly bonus of up to $8.4 million.

Even though Apotheker has neither ever lived in the US full time nor has much experience in the Bay Area tech scenario, John Schwarz, who was a member of SAP’s executive leadership under Apotheker, said about the new HP CEO: “Leo is a visionary leader and one who is not afraid to take on big challenges. I think that at HP, he will have a freer hand to execute.”