SARA FISHER

Staff Reporter

A trio of key executives at Hollywood.com, one of L.A.’s pioneering Internet businesses, has jumped ship less than one month after the company was officially acquired by Big Entertainment Inc., a Boca Raton, Fla.-based concern.

Big Entertainment executives characterize the defections as a natural changing of the corporate guard. But insiders at Santa Monica-based Hollywood.com, a Web company featuring movie-related news and information, say that losing many of those people who built the business from the ground up represents a no-confidence vote in the new ownership.

It also reflects the often unstable nature of young Internet companies that rely on a handful of key executives who can jump ship at a moment’s notice.

In recent weeks, Hollywood.com Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Rollens, Chief Technology Officer Erik Kellener and Executive Producer Austin Harrison have exited. Kellener, who declined to comment, has already moved to Pasadena’s Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch. The other two men could not be reached for comment.

According to a source close to the departing executives, the men left primarily because they believe that Big Entertainment does not understand how the new-media industry works and how new-media companies must be led.

“Not only did the Big Entertainment folks show a real lack of understanding and experience about new media, they proved themselves resistant to learning by bringing in more people not experienced in this industry,” the source said. “The Big Entertainment executives are great deal-makers, but they just don’t get it.”

With the three departures, the only remaining top executive is Stuart Halperin, co-founder and executive vice president.

Big Entertainment officials say they haven’t lost any critical talent. Chairman and CEO Mitchell Rubenstein, a co-founder of cable’s Sci-Fi Channel, would only say the company has been moving very quickly and making a lot of changes.

A source close to Big Entertainment, though, said that while the company regretted losing Kellener, the other two were not slated to remain longer-term. The company currently is looking for a seasoned studio programming person to take over Harrison’s spot. As for Rollens, the source said he left amid a salary dispute.

Despite the soap opera, industry pundits expect Big Entertainment and Hollywood.com to get back on their feet.

“Very few people have heard of the company so far, but they’ve put together what can be the prime Hollywood space on the Internet,” said Jan Loeb, an analyst with Wasserstein Parella Securities, who expects the stock to triple once the company gets established. Shares are currently trading around $19.

Hollywood.com originally Hollywood Online got its start in 1993 in Halperin’s Santa Monica apartment, where he and co-founder Steven Katinsky cajoled friends and family to finance their then-unprecedented concept of running a multimedia Web site dedicated to movie news and information.

The company attracted the eye of Times Mirror Co., which acquired it in 1996. In January, Times Mirror announced plans to sell it to Big Entertainment in a $31 million stock deal though Times Mirror will remain a minority shareholder in Big Entertainment and has an executive sitting on its board.

Hollywood.com already has announced a slew of new hires and promotions. Among them is Executive Vice President Eric Illowsky, formerly a senior vice president of programming and development at the Sci-Fi Channel.

“We have a lot of work to do, but we have the potential to quickly become No. 1 in this niche,” Rubenstein said. “No one else has the breadth we do, and come fall, everyone will know about us.”

In addition to Hollywood.com, Big Entertainment owns bige.com, an e-commerce operation specializing in entertainment-related merchandise, and CinemaSource, which provides movie times and listings online for theaters across the nation. Big Entertainment is in the process of merging the three units. Despite the reorganization, Rubenstein intends to increase Hollywood.com’s staff and keep it based in Los Angeles.

This fall, Hollywood.com advertisements will begin appearing on CBS television stations, online properties and radio stations. CBS agreed in principle to take a 35 percent stake in the company in return for $100 million worth of promotions.

CBS’s marketing muscle should help the company keep ahead of its myriad competitors, which include Mr. Showbiz, E! Online and film.com.