14 DAY TRIAL // The reported move of Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Ask.com, out of his office and the entering of Jim Safka in his place may look puzzling to the outside world, but not to the IAC, the parent company of the search engine. Letting go of the person who turned your business around and made your company get noticed, and even polled against the giants of the market, just doesn't sound like such a good idea to me, but hey, I'm not in a position to judge.
Barry Diller, CEO of AIC (a lot of capital letters in such a short space), said that "Jim Lanzone was the principal executive responsible for Ask.com's turnaround over the last two years. His passion for innovation and his every day dedication to the business and its people have been everything anyone could ask for. He is a superb executive and leader and I'm hopeful we can be associated in the future."
So, why would you let the move take place? In the statement, Diller also said that "These changes are intended to strengthen and streamline the operating structure at IAC, both leading up to our intended spin-offs, and beyond." I'm not seeing a clear reason there.
Lanzone will leave to work as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Venture Capital Firm, Redpoint Ventures, after having worked for Ask.com for one year and nine months, since his appointment on April 24th, 2006. At that time, he replaced Steve Berkowitz, who left his CEO position for a job at Microsoft.
Jim Safka, the new CEO of the search engine, previously held the same position at Match.com, IAC's online dating company, and at Primal Ventures, an investment arm of the IAC Internet conglomerate. Best of luck with the new job, Jim, you've got big shoes to fill, you know!