Inman

Move Inc. COO resigns

Realtor.com operator Move Inc. this week reported in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Jack D. Dennison, the company’s chief operating officer since 2002, on Sept. 28 notified the company that he would resign two days later.

Dennison had joined the company, then known as Homestore, more than five years ago as a new management team swept in following an accounting scandal that nearly brought the company to its knees. Homestore’s former CEO, Stuart Wolff, resigned in 2002 during an internal investigation. And Wolff was among a group of a dozen Homestore officials who were convicted for their participation in illegal schemes that led the company to restate its earnings. The company’s stock dropped to pennies per share as the details about the accounting problems became public.

Dennison formerly served as general counsel for WebMD, Healtheon and The Continuum Co., and as deputy general counsel for Computer Sciences Corp. He was part of a team of former WebMD and Healtheon executives to take the battered helm at Homestore.

Move Inc. CEO Mike Long also joined the company in 2002 and had formerly served as chairman of WebMD, CEO of Healtheon Corp. and CEO of The Continuum Corp., while Move Inc. Chief Financial Officer Lewis R. Belote III had served as senior vice president of finance for Healtheon and WebMD.

According to a report at Forbes.com, Dennison had total compensation of $2.08 million for fiscal year 2006 and had 3.6 million stock options valued at $10.7 million. In 2004 Inman News reported that Dennison owned 1.9 million shares worth $9.1 million.

Move Inc. officials were not immediately available for comment about Dennison’s departure.