Conshohocken-based ShopRunner brings in ex-Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson as its CEO

Tom Paine




ShopRunner, the Conshohocken-based unit of Michael Rubin's Kynetic LLC online retail holding company, this morning announced that it has hired Scott Thompson as its CEO. Thompson left Yahoo in May after a brief tenure as its CEO when it was revealed that his biographical information as it appeared in some places included a computer science degree he never earned. He also had a cancer scare, which apparently has been successfully treated. Prior to Yahoo, he ran eBay's PayPal unit, and certainly had the reputation of being an astute and successful executive. eBay, by the way, owns a 30% stake in ShopRunner, which it retained after acquiring GSI Commerce and spinning off the rest of ShopRunner to Kynetic. There was no discussion this morning by either ShopRunner execs or Thompson about the resume flap.

ShopRunner was launched in 2010 by Rubin and Mike Golden originally as a part of GSI Commerce, to offer an alternative to Amazon's Prime delivery subscription service for independent retailers, providing free two-day shipping and other benefits to its members. There isn't too much data out there about how its doing, though. Bloomberg cites some sources suggesting ShopRunner is having difficulties in gaining traction and getting some of the larger retailers to sign on.

ShopRunner CEO and long-time Rubin colleague Golden will now be President and report to Thompson, a move that may lead to some questions about his future role, though Golden explains in an internal memo that the Inquirer's Joe DiStefano obtained that it was always part of the plan to bring in a high-profile CEO for the long-term. Thompson, who has spent most of his recent years in Silicon Valley, will split time between the California offices of ShopSanity, a startup ShopRunner acquired earlier this year, and Conshohocken. In that regard, the newly approved helipad to be built on the riverfront in Conshohocken and paid for by Kynetic might come in handy in beating traffic from the airport. In fact, in my curious mind I wonder if the close timing of the two announcements is more than a coincidence.

Update: In response to an inquiry by Philly Tech News, ShopRunner's press representative said that the company is not currently releasing subscriber numbers.



permalink