December 17, 1996 1:45 PM ET
I/PRO CEO resigns as company restructures
By Maria Seminerio

World Wide Web site traffic analysis company Internet Profiles Corp. (I/PRO) said today its CEO, Mark Ashida, is stepping down in the wake of layoffs and the start of a restructuring effort. This year, the San Francisco-based company reduced its work force from 109 to 69 employees, and scrapped its I/CODE Web site audit plan even though more than half a million sites had signed on to the project, said Dave Carlick, the newly appointed chairman of I/PRO's board of directors. In the aftermath of the job cuts, "the board and Mark felt that his ability to lead was impaired," and the CEO agreed to step aside effective March 1, 1997, Carlick said. Company officials realized they had bit off more than they could chew with the I/CODE effort, said Carlick, executive vice president of interactive business development at Poppe Tyson. "The project was conceived at a time when Internet companies were feeling very ambitious," but I/PRO had neither the manpower nor the resources to take on such a large auditing project this year, he said. A CEO search has begun and the board of directors expects to have Ashida's replacement on board before he leaves in March, Carlick said. He said some candidates have already been chosen by the board but did not name them. If the company's restructuring effort moves along as planned, with new automation and processing procedures about to be put in place, more layoffs could be avoided, Carlick said. But he did not rule out the possibility of further job cuts next year. "While change is never easy, the decisions made were for the improvement of I/PRO," company officials said in a statement. Copyright(c) 1996 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. PC Week and the PC Week logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. PC Week Online and the PC Week Online logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Send mail to PC Week