On Oct. 12, investors found yet another reason to treat their shares of Internet postage companies as if they were pieces of junk mail. The timing couldn't have been worse. Just two days earlier, Chief Operating Officer Loren Smith, Chief Financial Officer John LaValle, and Comptroller Cadelario Andalon had all resigned. The company brushed off those departures as nothing more than normal turnover. And Runyon emphasized that Payne will still remain active with the company, serving on its board and chairing the board of its spin-off, EncrypTix.
Investors seem to have doubts that anyone is going to be able to engineer a turnaround.
It's no surprise investors are beating up on the e-postage sector. The companies have been trying to bail themselves out by introducing new products and upgrading their online-postage offerings. That's a signal the fledgling industry could do without. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.