Scott Blum has stepped down as chief executive of Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc., the company he founded and tried to take public late last year.
The online retailer named Neel Grover, chief operating officer and president, the new chief executive officer as of last Friday. Blum will remain chairman.
Blum said the move reflects how the company is led.
“I have focused my time on identifying strategic opportunities in the convergence of Internet retail, media and advertising,” he said in a statement. “Neel has led our business and corporate strategy and has been running the day to day operations of the company.”
Buy.com sells everything from wireless routers to DVDs online.
Blum took Buy.com public in 2000 and then went private in 2001 amid the dot-com crash. Last year, Buy.com was a step away from going public again, but couldn’t drum up enough investor interest to price its initial public offering.
The company has posted losses the past few years and faces head-to-head competition with a much larger Amazon.com Inc.
Buy.com recorded a loss of $2.6 million in the first quarter, down from $4.1 million a year earlier. Its sales were up 34% to $99.9 million in the period.
