Hot Topic Gets New Outside Chairman, Shuffles Committees
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
Staff Reporter
Hot Topic Inc. named an independent director as its new chairman and established a special committee of the board to oversee matters of corporate governance, including business ethics and conflicts of interest.
The five-member governance committee will be made up entirely of independent directors and has no set plans, other than “to look at issues as they arise,” said Andy Schuon, a member of the committee and a director of the teen retail chain since 1998.
“We thought this would be a good step for the company,” said Schuon, president of Infinity Broadcasting Corp., a division of Viacom Inc.
Hot Topic, based in Industry, named Bruce A. Quinnell, former vice chairman of Borders Group Inc. and a company director since 1999, as its new chairman.
He replaces Robert Jaffe, who left the board completely and will not be replaced. Jaffe, chief executive of a San Diego-based venture capital firm, was an early investor in the company and left to pursue other interests.
Schuon said the board did not place special emphasis on continuing with a non-employee chairman. But he acknowledged the benefits of the move. “It’s not a requirement (that the chairman be independent),” he said. “But it certainly doesn’t hurt.”
The company reported net income of $4.3 million (13 cents per diluted share) for the second quarter ended Aug. 3, compared with $4.3 million (13 cents) in the like year-earlier quarter. Second-quarter revenues were $92.5 million, up from $72 million in the second quarter of 2001.
