CEO shift: Circuit City dumps CEO

Posted September 22, 2008 at 05:35 PM by Iyaz Akhtar

Section: Tech News

Circuit City’s CEO, Philip J. Schoonover, announced his resignation as president and CEO and is leaving the company immediately.  Normally, when a company changes CEOs, there is a plan announced sometimes years in advance to keep the stock price afloat.  Schoonover’s departure was not part of any such plan.

The new interim CEO and president is James Marcum.  Marcum is being touted in Circuit City’s press release of this news.  “Prior to this Marcum held senior executive roles in retail turnarounds…”  Perhaps he can fix the once-strong company. 

Marcum said what you expect a new CEO to say, “It is my mission to direct that energy towards improving our operations and strengthening our market position in order to accelerate our turnaround and deliver improved results for all of our key stakeholders.”  What else is he going to say?  “I’m glad they gave me the keys to this dump?” 

With this bold move, expect changes with Circuit City.  Maybe they will go off and buy some other properties like when Best Buy bought Napster to stay competitive.  Changes like this usually have more news to follow.  It would not surprise us if Circuit City attempts to create new strategic partnerships with places like Blockbuster and other companies that are desperately trying to figure out their roles in the marketplace.

Read [Circuit City’s Press Release]