Buy.com's Blum May Be Forced to Leave Before IPO, Paper Says
Bloomberg News
May 3, 1999, 11:40 a.m. PT
Aliso Viejo, California, May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Buy.com Inc.
Chairman Scott Blum may be forced to leave as the Internet
retailer prepares to go public, the San Jose Mercury News
reported. Merrill Lynch & Co., the investment bank leading the
public offering, has told Blum it will underwrite the sale only
if he departs, and will assume no fiduciary responsibility once
shares begin trading, according to a person ''in the Internet
financial community,'' the paper said. The Mercury News reported
two weeks ago, citing unidentified sources, that Buy.com had been
turned down by several other investment banks for the IPO because
of Blum's previous association with Pinnacle Micro Inc., which
had been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with
misrepresenting its revenue, a charge he and Pinnacle later
settled with the SEC.
Jennifer Blanchfield, a spokeswoman for Buy.com in Aliso
Viejo, California, did not return calls and a spokeswoman for
Merrill Lynch couldn't be reached, the paper reported. |
