Overstock.com shuffles executives

Salt Lake City -- Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has relinquished his role as chairman of the company. In other moves, co-president Stormy Simon was named president of the online discount retailer.



Byrne will continue to serve as CEO, while current executive vice chairman Jonathan Johnson assumes the chairman responsibilities Byrnes has held since 2006.



In connection with these changes, Mark Griffin, senior VP and general counsel, has been named as corporate secretary, a position Johnson previously held. David Nielsen will continue in his role of co-president and his responsibilities within the firm will also be enlarged.



Byrne's latest term as chairman of Overstock.com's board of directors began in April 2006. Simon was elected to the board in May 2011. Johnson was elected to the board and named executive vice chair in May 2013.



"For 12 years Stormy has been our secret weapon," said Byrne. "Her ideas and her leadership have been crucial to Overstock's success. I have long maintained that simply as a matter of good institutional design, the roles of chairman and CEO should be split. For that reason my father held the position for years, as much as his health and other duties permitted. It has been back in my hands for some years, but for the completion of many of the duties of chairman I have come to rely more and more on Jonathan Johnson, another long-termer at the company who has made enormous contributions in the areas of finance, legal, and government affairs, and who has also had, at one time or another, nearly every piece of the company reporting to him.”