Is Overstock Better Or Worse After Key Resignation (OSTK)

Overstock.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSTK) has just announced that Jason Lindsey has resigned from the board of directors of Overstock.com and has resigned as the company’s president and chief operating officer effective December 31, 2007.

Chairman & CEO Patrick Byrne: "Jason co-founded the company and helped build it before retiring the first time.  When I screwed it up a couple years ago, he came out of retirement and has played a decisive role getting it back on track… He’s done a superb job. Now that it is back in a solid trailing twelve month cash-flow-positive position, he wishes to return to our previous arrangement…. he will still oversee special projects in a part-time capacity."

The good news is that Patrick Byrne recognizes the mistakes of the past.  The bad news is that Jason Lindsey was thought of as "the adult supervision" by many on Wall Street.  A value manager at the recent VALUE INVESTING CONGRESS noted how much he had accomplished there when offering her viewpoint on Overstock.com.  Patrick Byrne had also recently noted how margins had been down on discounts.

OSTK closed down almost 3% at $15.10 today in a very weak market, and the 52-week trading range is $14.05 to $39.39.  There have been very few prints after the close.  The print we saw in after-hours was higher, although this is indicated lower after the news.

Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008