New management team named for Westlake business firm

Acorn Staff Writer


Homestore.com, the Westlake Village online real estate company at 30700 Russell Ranch Road, installed a new management team last week after it allegedly overstated revenue up to as much as $95 million for the first three quarters of last year. And while its stock has dropped from January 2000’s high of $138 per share to yesterday’s $2.57 price, Homestore is still the No. 1 real estate site available at this time and ranked in the top 30 of all Websites, according to Homestore.com spokesman Gary Gerdemann.


In October, the firm announced restructuring that included 700 job cuts or 20 percent of its staff. In early December, chief financial officer Joseph Shew resigned, citing "personal reasons."


Last week, chairman and chief executive officer Stuart Wolff said he’d pursue a new technology venture and resigned along with other top executives.


The next day, Homestore shares had lost 32 percent of their value in a major sell-off.


Only less than a week earlier Homestore.com had announced that it had overstated revenues for the first nine months of 2001. An investigation is underway and officials said financial reports made by the Westlake Village company for 2001and 2000 will likely be restated.


The new management team will turn things around, Gerdemann said. They’re focused, he said, on three priorities: (1) increasing the quality of customer service, (2) matching expenses with revenues, and (3) retaining employees.


Following Wolff’s resignation, Joe Hanauer was named chairman and Michael Long, who was previously chairman of an Internet healt site called WebMD, was named chief executive officer to replace Wolff who occupied both positions.


Lewis Belote III, also a former employee of WebMD, replaced Shew as chief financial officer and Jack Dennison (WebMD) filled a position (vacant for a long time) as chief operating officer.


"There are two major (Website) rating services," Gerdemann said, "and depending on which one you look at, we’re either number 26 or the 29th most visited destination of all Internet destinations. And strictly of home and real estate sites, we’re the number one destination," he said. "In fact, we have more traffic than all of our competitors combined."


Homestore.com is the leader in every section in which it operates, Gerdemann said. Whether it’s homes for sale, apartments and rentals or senior housing, the Westlake Village company is No. 1 in which they operate, he said. The company will continue this trend, Gerdemann promised.


In response to the negative press Homestore.com has received, Gerdemann said, "Our focus is on taking care of our customers and we feel good about being able to do that."


The Homestore financial investigation should be completed by the end of March, according to Gerdemann.


Regarding several lawsuits against Homestore.com, Gerde-mann said he had no specific information. Shareholders who bought stock between July 2000 and December 2001 are suing the Westlake Village company, sources said, on grounds that company officers broke securities laws when they issued upbeat press releases regarding quarterly results but omitted disclosures about the firm’s true status.





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