The CEO and co-founder of flash sales site Gilt Groupe, Kevin Ryan, is stepping down, and the company is looking for a replacement, Spencer Ante and Dana Mattioli at the Wall Street Journal report.
Ryan, who is also the chairman of this publication, founded Gilt in 2007 with Dwight Merriman and several other co-founders. Ryan is also the co-founder of cloud-software company 10gen, Business Insider, and several other companies. He is the former CEO of DoubleClick.
According to the Journal, Ryan's aggressive expansion plan at Gilt has not gone well, and he has been spread too thin by his various activities. So he and the board agreed to find a new CEO to lead the company through an IPO.
Gilt Groupe raised $138 million at a $1 billion valuation last year. The market environment has changed significantly since then, and Gilt has refocused on trying to become profitable. Gilt is trying to sell its travel site, Jetsetter. It has also exited some businesses and had some layoffs.
Gilt, and its investors, are aiming to go public within 18 months. The company expects to break even this year on revenue of $600 million, which is up from $370 million last year, per the Journal.
The new CEO is expected to be in place by the start of next year, and Ryan is likely to become co-chairman with Gilt's other former CEO Susan Lyne. Ryan took over from Lyne as CEO two years ago.
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