AltaVista CEO resigns
Former search engine executive plans to spend more time with family
October 20, 2000: 6:27 a.m. ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - AltaVista Co. CEO Rod Schrock has resigned, the latest chapter in the tumultuous saga of the Internet search engine company.
"The whole Internet is going through a major restructuring right now and this just seemed like the perfect time for me to go," Schrock said during an interview Thursday. He said AltaVista's majority owner, Andover, Mass.-based CMGI Inc., (CMGI: Research, Estimates) tried to persuade him to stay over the past several weeks, to no avail.
The move comes not long after AltaVista had to postpone a widely awaited initial public offering of its stock last spring. The company plans to pursue its IPO shortly after it turns a profit -- an event that Schrock reiterated should happen early next year.
Schrock, 41, who will retain his stock options in AltaVista, will remain an adviser to the company, a pioneer in the search technology that helps direct Web surfers to their desired destination.
Schrock said he resigned from the Palo Alto-based company voluntarily so he could spend more time with his family, which includes two children -- a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old.
His desire to leave the company crystallized during the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Sydney. Schrock had vowed several years ago to take his family to Australia to watch the 2000 Olympics, but his duties at AltaVista prevented him from fulfilling the promise.
In a statement, CMGI CEO David Wetherell applauded Schrock's work. "Rod successfully presided over unprecedented growth for AltaVista and accelerated a plan for near-term profitability," Wetherell's statement said.
Danny Sullivan, an industry analyst for SearchEngineWatch.com, suspects Schrock's departure might have been a mutual decision. "This could be for the best for both Rod and CMGI," Sullivan said. "It has been an awful rough ride for that company."
Schrock's resignation came a month after the company laid off 225 employees -- about a fourth of its work force -- as part of a reorganization to refocus AltaVista's resources on developing online search tools.
Shortly after Schrock took over the helm in 1999, AltaVista poured more than $100 million into making acquisitions and introducing new features designed to transform its site into an all-encompassing service similar to Yahoo!
The repositioning boosted the number of visitors to AltaVista's site, but it saddled the company with even bigger losses. With a shift in Wall Street sentiment demanding profits from Internet companies, AltaVista decided to abandon its efforts to develop a so-called "portal," or gateway to the Internet.
While AltaVista searches for a new CEO, two of its current executives, Chief Operating Officer Greg Memo and Chief Financial Officer Ken Barber, will share the duties.
Copyright 2000 Associated Press All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Former search engine executive plans to spend more time with family
October 20, 2000: 6:27 a.m. ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - AltaVista Co. CEO Rod Schrock has resigned, the latest chapter in the tumultuous saga of the Internet search engine company.
"The whole Internet is going through a major restructuring right now and this just seemed like the perfect time for me to go," Schrock said during an interview Thursday. He said AltaVista's majority owner, Andover, Mass.-based CMGI Inc., (CMGI: Research, Estimates) tried to persuade him to stay over the past several weeks, to no avail.
The move comes not long after AltaVista had to postpone a widely awaited initial public offering of its stock last spring. The company plans to pursue its IPO shortly after it turns a profit -- an event that Schrock reiterated should happen early next year.
Schrock, 41, who will retain his stock options in AltaVista, will remain an adviser to the company, a pioneer in the search technology that helps direct Web surfers to their desired destination.
Schrock said he resigned from the Palo Alto-based company voluntarily so he could spend more time with his family, which includes two children -- a 6-year-old and a 4-year-old.
His desire to leave the company crystallized during the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Sydney. Schrock had vowed several years ago to take his family to Australia to watch the 2000 Olympics, but his duties at AltaVista prevented him from fulfilling the promise.
In a statement, CMGI CEO David Wetherell applauded Schrock's work. "Rod successfully presided over unprecedented growth for AltaVista and accelerated a plan for near-term profitability," Wetherell's statement said.
Danny Sullivan, an industry analyst for SearchEngineWatch.com, suspects Schrock's departure might have been a mutual decision. "This could be for the best for both Rod and CMGI," Sullivan said. "It has been an awful rough ride for that company."
Schrock's resignation came a month after the company laid off 225 employees -- about a fourth of its work force -- as part of a reorganization to refocus AltaVista's resources on developing online search tools.
Shortly after Schrock took over the helm in 1999, AltaVista poured more than $100 million into making acquisitions and introducing new features designed to transform its site into an all-encompassing service similar to Yahoo!
The repositioning boosted the number of visitors to AltaVista's site, but it saddled the company with even bigger losses. With a shift in Wall Street sentiment demanding profits from Internet companies, AltaVista decided to abandon its efforts to develop a so-called "portal," or gateway to the Internet.
While AltaVista searches for a new CEO, two of its current executives, Chief Operating Officer Greg Memo and Chief Financial Officer Ken Barber, will share the duties.
Copyright 2000 Associated Press All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
