Execs Get Dressed Down at Shareholders Meeting

If annual shareholders meetings are any indication of corporate culture, Irvine-based Autobytel.com Inc. appears to have the casual thing down.

After all, this is a company founded by Pete Ellis, whose passion for surfing, hula and Woodies has spawned a companywide passion for Hawaiian shirts. The corporation even had its own customized Hawaiian shirt created, in which surfboard-toting cars all have the same license plate--”autobytel.”

At the annual meeting last week, a 15-minute affair done to script, none of the company’s directors wore a tie. Chairman of the board Michael Fuchs, the former chief executive of Home Box Office, didn’t wear socks, and director Peter Titz wore faded jeans.

But it was Chief Executive Mark Lorimer who was the lone stodgy executive. He dressed up with a sport jacket and mock turtleneck.