Sometimes it turns out that businesses are just better off without their founder, or founders, running the show. This seems to be the case for Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM) after announcing that company founder and CEO Paul Palmieri has resigned from his post as CEO and from its board of directors effective immediately. The company coincided this news development by disclosing that the preliminary fourth quarter results were above expectations, based upon strong brand and programmatic sales.
The company represented that this departure was telegraphed by Palmieri, as the press release said that he had expressed an interest in leaving “some time ago” to transition out of the company and to go back to working with early stage entrepreneurs. Palmieri is now shown to be joining New Enterprise Associates as Venture Advisor focused on technology.
The board already appointed Michael Barrett as CEO and member of its board of directors. If Barrett sounds familiar to many readers, it is because he was most recently the Chief Revenue Officer at Yahoo!. Barrett has had a long career in advertising and media, formerly working with a company acquired by Google in 2011, as well as having been Chief Revenue Officer at AOL and Fox Interactive Media.
Usually it hurts a company when the founder leaves, but sometimes it is a good thing. When a digital media company gets to replace a founder with someone who has four top online destinations as his background, that makes the transition that much easier. It could even be close to an instant revenue catalyst.
Millennial Media shares are up almost 11% on the news, and the 10 million shares traded as of 1:30 p.m. on Monday is already more than 6-times the average daily volume.
The Average American Has No Idea How Much Money You Can Make Today (Sponsor)
The last few years made people forget how much banks and CD’s can pay. Meanwhile, interest rates have spiked and many can afford to pay you much more, but most are keeping yields low and hoping you won’t notice.
But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying almost 10x the national average! That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe and earn more at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. You can earn up to 3.80% with a Checking & Savings Account today Sign up and get up to $300 with direct deposit. No account fees. FDIC Insured.
Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes to open an account to make your money work for you.
Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. You can earn up to 4.00% with a Checking & Savings Account from Sofi. Sign up and get up to $300 with direct deposit. No account fees. FDIC Insured.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.