A New Web Address for Buy.com’s Blum

Scott Blum has resigned as chairman of Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc., one of the largest online retailers.

Blum, who founded the company in 1996 and gave up the role of chief executive in March, said he left the company on Sept. 2 to lead another start-up, BuyNow.com Inc., an e-commerce software and services company that is being spun off from Buy.com, and to form a venture capital firm, ThinkTank.com.

“I’m a really good start-up guy and I love rolling up my sleeves and getting dirty,” said Blum, who concedes that “once a company gets to 300, 400 or 500 people, I’m probably not the right guy.”

Privately held Buy.com has long been expected to file for a public offering. Blum himself predicted last year that an offering would take place by the end of 1998.

And although Blum has a black mark in his financial history stemming from accounting irregularities at his previous company, Irvine-based Pinnacle Micro Inc., he said that his relationship with Buy.com has not been a barrier to a public stock offering by the company.

“It’s not fair for someone who has made one mistake in life to constantly and continually pay for it,” said Blum, who retains 60% ownership and voting control of Buy.com.

Blum said Buy.com’s public offering has been delayed as the company worked to get the right management team in place.

In March, Greg Hawkins, the former senior vice president of global sales at Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc., was tapped to succeed Blum as chief executive. Hawkins also became chairman when Blum resigned in August.

Earlier this week, Buy.com hired a new chief financial officer, Mitch Hill, who was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Walt Disney Imagineering, the company’s theme park and resort design unit. Hill replaces Allen Barbieri, who resigned for personal reasons.

Now, Blum feels, the team is complete.

“Mitch was the missing component, and I think the company is a good one,” Blum said. “I don’t know how long anybody wants them to be together before they go public though.”

Buy.com declined to comment on its prospects for going public.

Blum’s new venture, BuyNow.com, plans to sell e-commerce tools and services that would allow Internet portals to quickly add online retailing to their site.

The company was spun off from Buy.com, Blum said, because other online firms were hesitant to buy services from a potential competitor.

Even with the spinoff, however, the ties between the two companies will be strong. BuyNow.com has seven employees other than Blum, all of them formerly from Buy.com, and Buy.com also owns a quarter of BuyNow.com.

Separately, Laguna Beach-based BuyGolf.com Inc. on Friday said it was in the final stages of negotiations to be acquired by Buy.com. BuyGolf.com, which was launched in May, sells golf equipment and offers other golfing services.

Terms of the proposed deal were not disclosed.