Schoonover Out, Marcum in as Circuit City CEO

The Mark Wattles-engineered turnaround at Circuit City moved forward Monday with the departure of Philip Schoonover, the electronics chain's chairman, CEO, and president. Replacing Schoonover as president and CEO: James Marcum, who was named non-executive chairman about a month ago.

Marcum came to the Circuit City board in June as part of a slate nominated by Wattles, who holds a 6.5 percent stake in the company. The two men worked together to turn around Hollywood Video and Ultimate Electronics.
The Circuit City board elected as chairman Allen B. King, retired chairman of Universal Corp. (a tobacco company) and a Circuit City board member since 2003. Said King: "The board of directors is committed to accelerating the pace of the company's turnaround. Since he joined the board in June, Jim has been very effective in partnering with senior management and in helping identify opportunities to deliver increased value for our shareholders, customers, vendors and associates over the long term. We look forward to his continued contributions in this new important role."

Circuit City reports its second quarter results next Monday, and hinted in today's release that results will be slightly better than the $170-185 million loss forecast. We'll be reading the tea leaves to see what it all means.