After WebVan’s poor results released in its annual report earlier this
month, George T. Shaheen resigned Friday, saying “a different kind of executive is needed to lead the company at this time,” according to a company statement. The annual report said the company needed to raise an additional $5 million to $15 million by this year’s final quarter and expects to have to raise as much $60 million to stay in business in order to meet its goal to turn a profit by the second half of 2002. WebVan has lost $610.8 million since 1998, including $453.3 million last year. Robert Swan, WebVan’s COO, will run the company until a new CEO is hired. Shaheen left Andersen Consulting as CEO in September to run WebVan.
This latest development continues to put the online delivery strategy under scrutiny: Rival online grocer Peapod was bailed out of bankruptcy by Royal Ahold last year and quick-delivery company Kozmo.com went out of business just last week.
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