Exhibit
99.1
LiveDeal
Announces Management Transition and Additions
Las Vegas
Nevada, Jan. 20, 2009 -- LiveDeal, Inc. (NASDAQ: LIVE), which combines
classifieds, Internet Yellow Pages directory and best of breed local customer
acquisition services for small businesses announced that it has
named Rajeev Seshadri as Chief Financial Officer, replacing Gary
Perschbacher. Perschbacher, who has served the company as CFO for the
past two years, has decided to remain in Phoenix, near the company’s former
headquarters, to pursue other opportunities.
The
company also announced that John Raven has resigned as LiveDeal’s President and
Chief Operating Officer, effective February 15, 2009.
In
addition, the company has added new Vice Presidents of Product, Marketing, and a
Director in Search Engine Marketing.
All of
these management changes come as part of LiveDeal’s emerging strategy to deliver
the most effective suite of Internet customer acquisition services to small
businesses.
“The
Board and I thank Gary for working so hard for the company and delivering an
enormous amount of value to LiveDeal during his tenure,” said Mike Edelhart,
Chief Executive Officer of LiveDeal, Inc. “Since Gary joined the
company, we have made many improvements in the finance area of the business
including corporate governance and fiscal management.”
“John
Raven has been a stalwart at LiveDeal through many changes. He has
been invaluable helping me and all the other new managers get up to speed on the
company’s history and operations. He led the Company’s operations
through several perilous straits. The Board and I wish John the best
in his future pursuits.”
Rajeev
Seshadri was born and raised in India. Seshadri received his Bachelor’s
Degree in Engineering from I.I.T. in India, in 1972, and then later attended the
University of Michigan where he received his MBA in 1983, majoring in Finance
and Strategic Marketing. Since his start as a Research Analyst at
K.A. Knapp, he has been a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of
several private companies in the Internet and technology spaces. He
brings a wealth of experience to LiveDeal, Inc.
LiveDeal’s
new VP of Product Management is Yishay Yovel, who joined the company in
October 2008. Yovel brings to LiveDeal over 10 years of experience in
Internet and enterprise software product management. Yovel has
recently led product strategy at Olive Software, a leader in the digital
publishing and archiving space. Prior to Olive, he led product
management for Illuminator (now a part of EMC), mobile Internet pioneer BackWeb
Technologies and New Dimension Software (now a part of BMC Software). In
all of these cases, Yovel has been instrumental in defining customer-focused,
innovative and successful software products.
Pamela
Sziebert, who joined LiveDeal in November 2008, is the new VP of Marketing.
Sziebert brings twelve years experience in senior level marketing,
strategic and operational management to LiveDeal. She has built and
led marketing and operational teams in the development and execution of
marketing plans to meet revenue goals specifically in the online marketing,
advertising, ecommerce and technology spaces. Sziebert recently led
operations at PartnerWeekly, a niche-affiliate network in addition to leading
marketing at Key3Media, SeeBeyond and Fujitsu PC. At PartnerWeekly,
Sziebert worked in a small-business oriented Internet environment that gave her
direct experience that applies to LiveDeal’s emerging
businesses.
Dean
Heistad, LiveDeal’s new VP of Technology Strategy, joined the Company January 5,
2009. Dean has held technology leadership positions at Time Warner, where he
helped launch the Business 2.0 magazine, and Infoseek. In addition,
he has been instrumental in leading technology revamps at AARP, Ology, Inc.,
Fortune.com and AOL. Heistad brings extensive media, online and
offline advertising experience to LiveDeal. His “out-of-the-box“
solutions strategies directly impact LiveDeal’s ability to deliver an innovative
suite of Internet customer acquisition services.
Ruben
Atchison has been added as Director of Search Engine
Marketing. He joined LiveDeal in December 2008. For the
past two years Atchison has been the Senior Search Engine Marketing Manager for
MySpace, Fox Interactive, American Idol and the other Internet properties owned
by Rupert Murdoch. Prior to that, he handled search marketing for hundreds of
small business customers at Precision Play Media. Since efficiency at
search marketing is a key element of our strategy, Atchison’s role on the team
will be critical and he is a superbly well qualified addition.
“We are
excited to add key team members with the depth of experience that they bring,”
said Edelhart. “We believe that we now have the core members of our
team in place with the relevant experience in sales, product and marketing to
lead our company through the transition to a stronger business position we have
mapped out for 2009 and beyond.”
About LiveDeal,
Inc.
LiveDeal,
Inc. delivers best of breed local customer acquisition services for small and
medium-sized businesses combined with a classified and Internet Yellow
Pages directory platform technology to deliver an affordable way for businesses
to extend their marketing reach to local, relevant customers via
the Internet. Through its online property, www.livedeal.com,
LiveDeal delivers local search engine marketing (SEM) through
its LiveAdvisor™ and LiveClicks™ products that combine best-of-breed
technology with a strong partnership model and an inside sales team to create an
efficient platform local businesses need to create and optimize their Internet
search advertising campaigns. Livedeal partners with Google,
Yahoo!, MSN, ASK, Miva, Looksmart, Superpages.com and
others. LiveDeal, Inc. is headquartered in Las Vegas,
Nevada. For more information, please visit www.livedeal.com.
Forward-Looking
and Cautionary Statements
This
press release may include statements that constitute "forward-looking
statements," which are often characterized by the terms "may," "believes,"
"projects," "expects," or "anticipates," and do not reflect historical facts.
Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that
may cause actual results, performance or achievements of LiveDeal, Inc. and its
subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements.
Factors
that may affect forward-looking statements and the Company's business generally
include but are not limited to (i) the risk factors and cautionary statements
made in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
September 30, 2008; (ii) other factors or statements described in the Company's
other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; and (iii) other
factors that LiveDeal, Inc. is currently unable to identify or quantify, but may
exist in the future.
Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date the statement was made. LiveDeal, Inc. does
not undertake and specifically declines any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
SOURCE:
LiveDeal, Inc.
LiveDeal.Inc.
PamelaSziebert
(408)
855-9988 x118
irinfo@livedeal.com