In order to “focus on future strategy,” TiVo Chairman and CEO
Michael Ramsay has begun looking for a successor. Ramsey has been TiVo's CEO
since founding the company with Jim Barton in 1997. (He will keep his chairman
title.)
Despite all the work TiVo has done to promote digital video recording,
it is possible that set-top–box makers like Motorola, Scientific-Atlanta and
Digeo could reap the benefits.
Comcast, for example, says that more than 10,000 cable subscribers in
the San Francisco area signed up for DVR service in the first month it was
offered.
What really hurt TiVo was DirecTV's announcement at the recent
Consumer Electronics Show that it intended to dump the company in favor of its
own DVR. The stock dropped nearly 27%, to $4.20 as of Jan. 11, before
rebounding slightly midweek on rumors of a possible sale.
Ramsay, however, denies any talk of a sale.
He will remain CEO until a successor is found by Howard Fischer
Associates of Philadelphia, Silicon Valley and Boston, the firm selected by
TiVo's board of directors to conduct the search.
