Rich Fiscus
12 Sep 2007 16:42
In an attempt to save money, Blockbuster's Chief Operating Officer position has been eliminated, and senior executive Vice President Nick Shepherd let go, although he will remain as a consultant through year's end.
James Keyes, the company's chairman and CEO since July, was brought in because board members felt former head John Antioco's plans to compete with internet based rental rival Netflix. As Shepherd leaves, two senior positions will be filled by Keith Morrow and David Podeschi, both of whom worked with Keyes at his former employer, 7-Eleven.
"Nick's position of chief operating officer is being eliminated. There's no other senior level role in the business," said Karen Raskopf, senior VP of corporate communications. "Nick has opted to leave Blockbuster to achieve his stated ambition to pursue broader executive responsibilities. He'd like to lead a company as CEO."
Jeff Embersits, an analyst at Shareholder Value Mangement said that Blockbuster hiring both a CIO (Morrow), and someone to be in charge of merchandising, distribution, and logistics is possibly an attempt to better position themselves to compete with Netflix.
Although Blockbuster's online rental plans have cause some problems for Netflix, high costs have the brick and mortar rental leader losing money in the process. Prior to the announcement of Shepherd's departure, Blockbuster recently set a limit on the number of times per month subscribers can return movies to brick and mortar stores and have their next movie sent sooner.
Source: Video Business