Struggling MediaBay Gets New Chief
by Karen Holt -- Publishers Weekly, 8/25/2003
Financially struggling MediaBay has hired venture capitalist Ronald Celmer to head the company, replacing CEO Hakan Lindskog, who left the company earlier this month. Celmer most recently was a general partner in Constellation Ventures and a Bear Stearns managing director. His background includes 20 years in operational and financial management positions.
He comes to MediaBay at a time when the spoken word audio company is suffering declines in sales, escalating losses and a stock price that has plummeted to below $1 a share from more than $3 a year ago. The company had a net loss of $166,000 in its second quarter, ended June 30, compared with income of $395,000 for the comparable period the prior year. For the half ended June 30, the company had a net loss of $1.6 million, up from a loss of $318,000 the prior year.
Second-quarter sales fell to $9.4 million, compared with $12.0 million a year ago. For the half, they edged down to $20.1 million, from $21.5 million the same period a year ago. The decline resulted mostly from lower sales at Audio Book Club, which has seen decreases in membership and new member sales.
