levy, amazing article...especially on page 2 (excerpt below), and on the first page, the page on Russell...Is is truly important now that we see who is on the "new" INSP board...........
>>>>>>>>>>>>Instead, according to two people familiar with the events, what ensued was a power struggle in which Jain vied with Horowitz for the CEO slot. By mid-January, Horowitz seemed to have won out. Rick Thompson, an executive VP and another Go2Net import, was slated for COO. Jain was set to leave and start a new company. Several executives were approached and asked if they would jump to Jain's new venture. His attorneys huddled with company lawyers to negotiate the terms of his departure. But those negotiations stalled, according to one insider, over Jain's plans for the new company and his refusal to sign a noncompete agreement. In the days that followed, the board reversed itself: Horowitz would be exiting, not Jain, and the founder would take over as CEO. On Jan. 22, that's just what happened.
Horowitz, who has resigned from the board of InfoSpace and from its executive team, could not be reached for comment. Jain would neither confirm nor deny this account of the shakeup. "These types of things are extremely personal and confidential in nature, and I am not at liberty to discuss them," he says. "I absolutely can assure you there was positively no clash of egos."
Clash or no clash, morale was shaken by last week's upheaval, according to people close to the company. On Monday, after the announcement and a conference call with analysts and the press, Jain held an all-staff meeting at the company's headquarters. Horowitz, speaking by phone from Los Angeles, expressed support for the company he'd just left. Afterward, according to one employee, the mood was "sober."
For his part, Jain remains upbeat. "Internal morale is extremely, extremely, extremely positive," he insists, "I can forward you e-mails where people say, 'We will give up our lives for this company. We will work 24 hours a day, now that you are back. Now we have a cause. We have a reason to live.'" <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< |
