Peapod Inc. Thursday announced its
president and chief executive officer, Bill Malloy, has resigned, prompting
one of its leading backers to nix a $120 million investment.
Malloy will step down immediately because of health reasons. He will be
replaced by Andrew Parkinson, the online grocer’s chairman and co-founder.
Citing Malloy’s resignation, a group of investors — Apollo Management LP,
Yucaipa Cos., Pequot Capital Management Inc. and GRP II LP — have rescinded
their offer to inject the company with a $120 million investment. Peapod (PPOD)
said it directed its financial advisors, Wasserstein Perrella & Co., Inc.,
to explore strategic alternatives available to the company, including
possible alternative financing or a possible sale. The company currently has
$3 million in cash.
“There can be no assurances that the company will be successful in finding
or completing a
transaction or that the company’s resources will be sufficient to enable it
to continue its operations
during this process,” Peapod said in a statement.
Peapod provides online shopping service for a variety of supermarket items.
It competes in the space with companies such as NetGrocer, Webvan (WBVN)
and ShopLink.
