TheStreet’s Board of Directors Appoints Woody Marshall as Chairperson

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TheStreet.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: TST (TheStreet.com)), a leading digital financial media company, announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Christopher P. (Woody) Marshall as its Chairperson, effective immediately. Marshall steps in for founder and markets commentator Jim Cramer, who has served in the role since 2008. Cramer will remain on the Company’s Board and will continue in his editorial role with the Company. Cramer recently entered into a new three-year employment arrangement with TheStreet.

Marshall has over 15 years of experience in the technology and Internet sectors. He currently serves as a General Partner at Technology Crossover Ventures (“TCV”), a leading private equity and venture capital firm with $7.7 billion under management focused on information technology companies. Prior to joining TCV in 2008, he spent 12 years at Trident Capital, a leading venture capital and private equity firm focused on the software, business services and Internet markets.

Daryl Otte, CEO of TheStreet, said, “We are excited to have Woody increase his commitment to the Company through his new role as Chairperson. His ability to identify companies where he sees strong, sustainable business models, coupled with a proven track record at helping them recognize untapped value over the long-term, will be an asset to our Company. Woody is the ideal person to lead our Board during this time of growth at TheStreet.”

Otte added, “The other board members and I want to thank Jim for his service to the Company as Chairperson. He has been an integral player in helping the Company realize its vision of being a leader in the digital financial media space – which he helped pioneer by founding the Company in the early days of the commercial Internet – and he has provided outstanding leadership to the Board. I fully understand his desire to lighten his workload on administrative matters and he hands the Chairperson role over to Woody at a time when our strategy is set and our future is promising. We look forward to continuing to work with Jim as a Board member, and, as importantly, letting him focus even more intently on creating the great content that our users love in our websites and services, including Action Alerts PLUS and RealMoney.”

Marshall added, “As an active Board member and long-term investor, I have both followed and participated in TheStreet’s evolution over the years. I believe the Company is on the right path and as its new Chairperson, I am eager to help contribute to its future successes. TCV and I believe in the business as much as we did when we invested in it in 2007.”

Cramer said, “I am thrilled to be handing this post to Woody, who knows our business well and I am confident will make an outstanding Chairperson.”

About TheStreet

TheStreet.com, Inc. is a leading digital financial media company that distributes its content through online, social media, tablet and mobile channels. The Company’s network of brands include: TheStreet, RealMoney, Stockpickr, Action Alerts PLUS, Options Profits, ETF Profits, MainStreet and Rate-Watch. For more information on TheStreet’s business, visit www.t.st. For financial and business news, actionable trading ideas, stock quotes and more, visit TheStreet.com via your web browser, follow TheStreet on Facebook and Twitter, visit TheStreet.mobi from your mobile device and access TheStreet through all major tablet platforms.

As a Director TheStreet.com, Otte made about $111,000 in 2008, $126,000 in 2007, and $90,483 in 2006.  TheStreet.com was founded by Jim Cramer, the financial TV personality that was embarrassed by Jon Stewart.

[via BusinessInsider]

This will allow Thomas J. Clarke, the current CEO of TheStreet.com to “focus on navigating the company through this difficult economic environment.”  Prior to this announcement, Clarke was both CEO and Chairman.  At the end of this quarter, TheStreet reported $16.7 million in revenue.  This is up from last year’s $16.1 million in the same quarter.

“Our quarterly results reflect the revenue impact of the weakened online advertising market,” stated Clarke. “While we remain committed to investing in our growth initiatives, we are reviewing our cost structure, as is prudent, in this difficult environment. Our strong balance sheet, with $80 million in cash and no bank debt, ensures we are particularly well positioned to navigate these headwinds.”  

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An example of Cramer’s ascendany is when Stephen Paternot pointed out in his book, A Very Public Offering: A Rebel’s Story of Business Excess, Success, and Reckoning[2], that Cramer was picking on Theglobe.com more than other dot-com strugglers[3].  Theglobe.com is a website that formerly provided free web hosting and the ability to have community interactions.  Today, Theglobe.com is a travel website that was sued by MySpace.com for spamming[4].

Eleven years after TheStreet.com was founded, the company sent out a press release today that the company will be launching a blog search engine specializing on financial information called StockBlogr (Side comment: Notice the missing “ge?”  It sounds very Web 2.0ish).

“StockBlogr stands out from other search engines currently available online,” stated James Altucher, the President of Stockpickr.com. “It’s what users want access to, on time, all the time – in an environment where they don’t have to weed through clutter to find what they are looking for. StockBlogr is a reliable resource for consumers who would otherwise not have a clear path to the very tools depended upon by professional money managers to gain an edge in collecting timely information to make successful financial decisions.”  Stockpickr.com is a subsidiary of TheStreet.com.

As users plug keywords into the search, the engine will return blog posts, links from relevant portfolios on Stockpickr.com, and videos from various sources. 

The StockBlogr search engine is embedded on thestreet.com at http://www.thestreet.com/blogsearch[5].

[1] TheStreet.com
[2] Amazon.com: A Very Public Offering: A Rebel’s Story of Business Excess, Success, and Reckoning [Hardcover book]
[3] TheStreet.com: Spinning theglobe: The Net Bubble Through the Eyes of Callow Youth
[4] Pulse 2.0: MySpace.com Vs. TheGlobe.com Lawsuit Settled
[5] TheStreet.com: StockBlogr