The founders of community site theglobe.com, Inc. have stepped down
after seeing its stock fall into the single digits and experiencing
wider-than-expected losses.
Stephen Paternot and Todd Krizelman said Friday they will step down as
co-chief executive
officers, with current Chief Operating Officer Dean Daniels taking the role
of president. The search for a new CEO has begun, and is expected to be in
place by the second quarter, the firm said. Paternot and Krizelman will
remain on the board to focus on business strategy and new products.
The restructuring comes while the company struggles match the resources of
competitors Geocities and Tripod, which were bought by Yahoo! (YHOO)
and Lycos (LCOS)
, respectively.
theglobe.com (TGLO)
is a network of e-mail clubs and personal Web sites, where people form
communities revolving around similar subjects.
Krizelman and Paternot founded the community site while they were students
at Cornell University, and took the company public in November 1998. The
stock’s activity has been a roller coaster, rising more than 900 percent
before tumbling down into the single digits. It was trading Friday afternoon
at 7 15/16. Its fourth quarter earnings, released Thursday, indicated a loss
of $16.2 million, or 60 cents a share, compared to $4.5 million, or 38 cents
a share last year.