Kansas City, Mo. – The chief financial officer of Crown Media Holdings Inc. has resigned, following a shakeout of the media group’s top executive staff this summer, company officials said Monday.
Crown Media Holdings runs cable TV’s Hallmark Channel and is majority owned by Hallmark Cards Inc.
Though William Aliber resigned Friday, his resignation won’t take effect until Sept. 30, the Greenwood Village-based company said in a prepared statement. Crown Media’s chief executive also left in May, soon after the company stopped seeking a buyout.
Another executive, Brian Stewart, will become interim chief financial officer when Aliber leaves, Crown Media said. Stewart is currently the chief financial officer of Crown Media United States LLC, a company subsidiary.
Mindy Tucker, a spokeswoman for Crown Media, told The Kansas City Star that Aliber began thinking about resigning when Crown Media sought to sell itself to a larger entity.
The terms of his separation agreement give Aliber his annual salary of $496,000 and a pro-rata share of his 2006 bonus, or $74,400.
Hallmark Cards Inc., based in Kansas City, owns 67 percent of Crown Media stock. Shares fell 21 cents Monday, closing at $4.05.
David Evans resigned as Crown Media’s chief executive in May. Paul FitzPatrick, the company’s former chief operating officer, now serves as interim CEO.
Aliber has said Crown Media drew up new long-range plans once the board decided to take the company off the block. Business plans were expected to include adding more viewers, generating more revenue from subscribers and advertisers and producing more movies.
“Now that the genie is back in the bottle, we’re gonna run this thing,” Aliber told The Star this month.
