High-end online matchmaking site eHarmony is having trouble finding a match at the top: Chief Executive Jaynie Studenmund resigned just weeks after assuming the role Feb. 1.
Co-founder Greg Forgatch stepped down as chief in January to “pursue other interests,” but maintained his position on the board. Forgatch’s father-in-law, author and relationship expert Dr. Neil Clark Warren, is the other co-founder. He is also “the face” of eHarmony’s commercials.
Studenmund is a former chief financial officer of Overture Services Inc., the paid-search advertising company acquired in 2004 by Yahoo! Inc. She has been a board member since last year, and will continue to serve on the company’s board. She issued a statement saying essentially, “It’s not me it’s you.”
“There are many factors that make a new CEO successful,
and unfortunately some of these factors at eHarmony were just not a good fit for me,” Studenmund said.
Gregory Waldorf, one of the founding investors in the company, is replacing her. Waldorf will also be a temporary appointment he is heading up the committee to find a suitable candidate.
Skype Gripe
Woodland Hills-based StreamCast Networks Inc., creators of peer-to-peer file sharing network Morpheus, has filed a lawsuit against Skype Technologies, the voice-over-Internet-protocol provider that was acquired by eBay Inc. last year for more than $4 billion.
The suit centers on file-sharing technology called FastTrack P2P. Skype and other P2P services use it; StreamCast claims it owns it. StreamCast filed complaints under the RICO Act Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act among others. Executives declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“As has been reported, StreamCast Networks has filed a lawsuit against Skype and other named defendants,” read a statement from Charles Baker, partner
at the law firm of Porter & Hodges, which is representing StreamCast in the case. “I am unable to expand upon that at this time. StreamCast looks forward to litigating this.”
Houston-based Porter & Hodges also represents StreamCast in a previous case brought by MGM and several record labels against several P2P networks, including the now-defunct Grokster, which charged them with copyright infringement. Skype parent company eBay was not named in the suit.
Planet Sony
San Diego-based Sony Online Entertainment tapped Aliso Viejo-based comic book software developer Planetwide Games to offer a Web-based version of Planetwide’s Comic Book Creator as part of Sony’s online game package this summer. A small company, Planetwide develops Web-based video games as well as animation and comic book software.
It increased its profile in February by signing a content agreement with the National Geographic Society that would promote its software to the almost 330 million people worldwide who read the magazine or Web site. Being tapped by Sony gives Planetwide another big boost in its industry profile. Financial terms were not disclosed. The licensing agreement will allow users to create their own comic books based on Sony’s popular EverQuest and PlanetSide multiplayer online video games. Planetwide brought in about $50 million in revenues last year and had just 25 employees.
*Staff Reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 226, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.
