Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne resigns after calling himself 'far too controversial to serve'
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Overstock.com CEO and founder Patrick Byrne announced his resignation in a Thursday shareholder letter, saying his "presence may affect and complicate all matter of business relationships."
The letter opened with two quotes, one stating the founder is "already far too controversial to serve as CEO" and the other simply noting he does "not wish to disrupt possible strategic discussions.""Thus, while I believe that I did what was necessary for the good of the country, for the good of the firm, I am in the sad position of having to sever ties with Overstock, both as CEO and board member, effective Thursday August 22," Byrne wrote.
Byrne's resignation was preceded by a temporary trading halt on the Nasdaq. The exchange's website showed the pause starting at 11:55 a.m. ET and trading resuming at 12:30 p.m. ET.The unusual statement led shares to fall as much as 36% from Monday to Wednesday before partially recovering. The sell-off knocked off up to $317 million from the company's market cap.
The CEO's August statement was just the latest in a series of unconventional actions taken by the executive.
Byrne joked during an early August conference call about loaning office space to the SEC during an investigation into Overstock's cryptocurrency project, according to Bloomberg.In May, he told shareholders he had to sell stock in the company to bump his salary. Byrne refused a bonus for years and declined larger salaries, Reuters previously reported.
Shares traded as much as 17% higher after shares resumed trading. Overstock traded at $20.93 per share as of 1:05 p.m. ET Thursday.
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