LITTLE ROCK — The chief executive officer and president of Little Rock-based Acxiom Corporation has resigned and the company's chief financial officer has said he intends to resign, officials said Wednesday.
CEO John A. Meyer resigned effective Monday and CFO Christopher W. Wolf informed the company he will leave in the second quarter, according to a statement issued early Wednesday.
News of the resignations came on the same day Acxiom said it expects a loss on net earnings for the fourth quarter and possibly the fiscal year.
Jerry D. Gramaglia, a member of Acxiom's board, will serve as interim CEO.
"No doubt Acxiom is a stronger company because of John's effort. We thank him and wish him well," Gramaglia said during a conference call Wednesday morning, adding later that he would work closely with company leaders to "move decisively to ensure we continue Acxiom's momentum during my interim service."
The company said Wolf is leaving for personal reasons, including "his desire to stop commuting to Little Rock from his home in Florida and to spend more time with his family."
No reason was given for Meyer's resignation.
“We’ve accomplished a great deal under John’s leadership, and we are very grateful for his contributions to Acxiom during a critical time in the company’s history," Chairman Michael J. Durham said in the statement. "Through his efforts the company has stabilized its profitability and significantly improved its balance sheet, without compromising Acxiom’s commitment to customer excellence. However, with the expanded importance of digital media, we are entering a new phase in Acxiom’s evolution. The Board intends to find a new CEO who is an exceptional executive and also is an industry thought leader who will move aggressively to accelerate Acxiom’s growth.”
In the same statement announcing the resignations, Acxiom said it expects to have a "non-cash impairment charge in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 in connection with a write-down of the carrying value of goodwill and other long-lived assets associated with its international operations."
The company is estimating the impairment charge to be between $50 million and $90 million. The figure will reportedly affect operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share, but not cash balances or cash provided by operating activities.
Acxiom said in the release that revenue in the fourth quarter, which ends Thursday, is expected to be around $295 million to $299 million and that fiscal year revenue will be around $1.156 billion to $1.16 billion.
Net earnings are anticipated to range from a loss of $83.7 million to a loss of $40.3 million. Fiscal year net earnings are expected to range from a loss of $41.1 million to a gain of about $2.3 million.