YNOT – Boulder, Colo.-based New Frontier Media Inc. has terminated Chief Executive Officer Michael Weiner and replaced him as chairman of the company’s board of directors. He remains an at-large member of the board.
The company gave no explanation for the changes.
Attorney Alan L. Isaacman, founder and senior member of the Los Angeles law firm Isaacman, Kaufman & Painter P.C., replaced Weiner as chairman of the board. Isaacman has held a seat on New Frontier’s board of directors since 1999.
The board appointed a committee to select a new CEO. In the interim, Chief Financial Officer Grant Williams, Chief Legal Officer Marc Callipari and Chief Technology Officer Scott Piper will share the CEO’s duties.
Weiner co-founded publicly-traded New Frontier in 1995 and was named CEO in 2004. In January of that year, the company’s stock was trading at more than $11 per share. On Thursday afternoon, the company’s share price on the NasdaqGS was about $1.37, up 1 percent over the previous day’s closing value. The stock’s per-share value has not risen above $2 since March 4. It has not risen above $5 since mid-2007.
This year has been a particularly trying one for New Frontier and its shareholders. The company — which produces and distributes pay-per-view and on-demand adult content to cable and satellite TV providers — has faced lawsuits from inside and outside the adult entertainment industry. Private Media group and Grand Tourisme Audiovisuel, both based in Europe, sued New Frontier over the latter’s alleged failure to adhere to contractual terms.
In addition, New Frontier has faced takeover attempts from at least two unsolicited suitors: Channel Islands-based mainstream holding company Longkloof Ltd. and Luxembourg-based Manwin, one of the largest content producers and distributors in adult. The protracted battle with Longkloof and related companies also resulted in a lawsuit, which the adversaries settled out of court.
The New Frontier board continues to consider selling the company to one of its suitors, according to a statement released Tuesday.
“A special committee of independent members of the New Frontier Media board is overseeing, with the assistance of its legal and financial advisors, a review of strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, which includes, but is not limited to, a potential sale of the company,” the statement noted. “The special committee is proceeding with its comprehensive strategic alternatives review process in a timely and orderly manner and will complete the process in due course. The company cautions that there are no guarantees that the review process will result in a transaction or, if a transaction is approved by the company’s board, whether the terms or timing of such a transaction will be approved by shareholders.”
