VOTE CRANDALL FOR NEW CEO OF ANTS->Ants CEO Quits 2 Weeks After It Warned Cash Is Running Out
Burlingame, California, Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Frederick Pettit, Ants Software.com Inc.'s chief executive, resigned, two weeks after the software developer warned ``present cash resources will sustain operations'' only through January.
Shares of the company, which says it has found a way to speed up data processing, have dropped 95 percent since peaking at $55.63 a year ago. Today they fell 6 cents to $2.94.
On Nov. 28, the company said it was abandoning its new corporate headquarters as losses for its fiscal second quarter ended Oct. 31 widened 18-fold to $2.4 million. Ants said it had $1.6 million cash remaining on Oct. 31.
Pettit, 64, in a brief telephone interview, declined to discuss his resignation as CEO and chairman.
``I'm very positive about the company,'' he said. ``It's never been in better shape.'' He wouldn't elaborate.
Pettit also resigned from the board of directors, along with fellow director Dean Witter III, 53.
John Williams, 60, was appointed interim chief executive, and Clive Whittenbury 66, was named interim chairman. Both already serve on the board.
Ants' latest quarterly loss included a $636,480 charge for costs incurred on a new corporate headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company has decided to give up its lease on a 15,000-square-foot space. The facility, leased a year ago at a cost of $50,000 a month, was never occupied.
In January, the company, founded in 1979, moved its headquarters from the Santa Barbara home of Donald Hutton, its former chairman, to Burlingame. Pettit replaced Hutton as CEO in January after Hutton incorrectly identified himself as a certified public accountant in a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hutton, 64, still owned 25.1 percent of the company, or 3.2 million shares, as of July 24, according to Ants' most recent proxy statement.
In May, Ants said the Nasdaq National Market rejected its listing application, citing its financial condition, an ongoing Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of trading in its shares, and the resignation of its auditor.
Dec/13/2000 0:34 ET
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