The Culture Is Casual at Autobytel.com

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 affinity for Hawaiian shirts. The corporation has even had its own customized Hawaiian shirt created, one on which the surfboard-toting cars all have the same license plate--”autobytel.”

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

It was Chief Executive Mark Lorimer who was the lone stodgy executive: He dressed up in a sports jacket and mock turtleneck.