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The Sharper Image is replacing CEO Steve Lightman with turnaround specialist Robert Conway just two weeks after the company announced its total sales for 2007 fell 26 percent.
Lightman held the job for just 10 months. He took over CEO responsibilities seven months after the company’s board ousted its founder and CEO, Richard Thalheimer.
The Sharper Image’s decision to once again change CEOs signals that the situation is “a little bit more challenging than even the fundamentals suggest,” said analyst Scott Tilghman of Soleil-Hudson Square Research (via the AP). Those fundamentals include the fact that the company’s stock price plummeted 85 percent since Lightman took over. Three of the company’s 11 board members resigned as directors in the two weeks leading up to Lightman’s departure.
The company did not say whether Lightman resigned or was shown the door, writes Multichannel Merchant. With a solid plan to revive sales and a background in direct-to-consumer, it was hoped Lightman would be successful in driving consumers back to the company’s specialty stores.
The Sharper Image’s sales have declined steadily since 2004. Fiscal year 2007 saw total sales of $374.9 million, compared to $506.7 million for the previous year. Sales in 2006 were $650.3 million.
Fox Business points out that The Sharper Image’s January same-store sales missed Wall Street expectations.
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