LONDON (Brand Republic) 鈥 Another key executive has left US internet retailer Priceline.com, just a week after it lost its high-profile financial controller Heidi Miller and announced poor third-quarter results.
Maryann Keller ran the company鈥檚 auto-services division but said she left after she was asked to cull half of her 23 staff as part of the restructuring plan announced by new chief executive Jim Boyd last week.
She said Priceline.com鈥檚 internet car sales operation had failed. The company enables consumers to offer payment for goods such as airfares, car rental and telephone calls which it then matches.
鈥淔or car-buying, the internet鈥檚 time had not yet come and may never,鈥 Keller, who was an analyst for the car industry in the US before she joined Priceline.com, said.
The company, which launched in the UK this week under the direction of former Burger King chief executive Dennis Malamatinas, confirmed she had left but said its internet car sales operation would continue. Vice-president of automotive sales Pamela Caputo has stepped in to run the depleted division.
Priceline.com has struggled recently with increased competition from other internet travel and airfare sites. WebHouse Club, its independent licensee which allowed consumers to bid for petrol and groceries, shut down in October along with Perfect Yardsale, which offered used goods for sale through Priceline.com.
www.priceline.com