Electronic software hosting and distribution company, Digital River Inc has shuffled its management about slightly ahead of the company’s initial public offering. Perry Steiner, VP of investment banking firm Wasserstein Perella & Co Inc, who is a director of the company becomes president too, with responsibility for strategic direction and managing the finances. Current president and chief executive Joel Ronning retains CEO role. The former president and CEO of distributor Egghead Software Inc Terry Strom is Digital River’s new senior VP marketing. Strom resigned from Egghead in February 1997 when it went through a massive restructuring, closing half of its stores, ahead of its eventual abandonment of physical stores altogether in January when it moved to the web. Prior to Egghead, Strom was senior VP marketing at Best Buy. The Minneapolis, Minnesota company hosts software from many top publishers, including IBM Corp’s Lotus, Symantec Corp and Adobe Systems Inc and distributes the software over the internet when customers require it, talking a percentage for itself, but charging the companies themselves nothing to host the software. It is hoping to raise about $40m in its IPO, which was announced in mid-June (06/16/98). There’s no word on when the shares will begin trading.
