17 Sep 2008 07:00
blinkx Expands Management Team, Appoints Jonathan Spira as Chief Financial Officer
Technology Industry Veteran Brings 20 Years of Experience to Fastest Growing Video Search Engine
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. -September 17, 2008 - blinkx, the world's largest video search engine, today announced that Jonathan Spira will join the blinkx executive management team as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), commencing September 29th, 2008. Spira joins blinkx at a time when the company is experiencing rapid expansion in its partner and user-base: last week blinkx announced that it is the fastest growing video site among visitors in the U.S.1 and the U.K.2
Spira will assume financial duties currently managed by Matthew Service, who has served as both CFO and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at blinkx since 2006. Matthew Service will continue in the role of COO.
"Jonathan's impressive industry experience, financial background, and track record with rapid-growth companies - as well as some of the top brands in the world - make him an excellent fit for our team," said Suranga Chandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx. "We are delighted that blinkx's continued success has enabled us to expand our executive management team, and we look forward to leveraging his unique insight and expertise as blinkx continues its rapid growth trajectory."
Spira has extensive experience in both the media and technology industries. He joins blinkx from J.Phineas International, a business consultancy company he founded that offers advisory services in specialty areas, including Strategic and Business Planning, Capitalization and Fundraising, Board and Investor Relations, and High Growth Operations. Spira has been building and managing companies in the technology and consumer industry for 20 years, helping enterprise software, wireless communications, on-demand, and consumer-product companies grow dramatically and profitably, while building significant value for investors.
Prior to founding J.Phineas International, Spira served as Chief Financial Officer at a number of private and public companies, including: Kapow Technologies, a Web 2.0 start-up; Packethop, a wireless networking company; Atrenta, a developer of Electronic Design Automation applications; ePeople, a developer of Web-based customer relationship management solutions; and Autonomy Corporation plc, where Jonathan spearheaded a successful $50 million IPO in 1998. Spira has also held senior finance and planning positions at Walt Disney Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Nestlé Food Company, and worked as a consultant in Peat Marwick's Merger & Acquisition practice. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Kenyon College.
1 According to findings issued in September 2008 by Compete.com, blinkx is the fastest growing video site among the top 20 video competitors in the U.S. blinkx's traffic grew by 1,036% between July 2007 and July 2008, boosting blinkx to 16th place among the top 20 video sites.
2 In another recent report, Neilsen Online listed blinkx.com as the ninth fastest growing site in the U.K. as its traffic soared 681% between June 2007 and July 2008.
About blinkx
blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's largest and most advanced video search engine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 18 million hours of audio, video, viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand. blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - as TV and user-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologies only scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to - and even see - the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search results not available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many of the world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London. More information is available at www.blinkx.com.
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