Founder Aims to Boost Autobytel Stock

Autobytel.com Inc. founder Peter Ellis, who has seen shares in his Internet car-shopping service drop more than 56% this year, said he may take action toward “increasing shareholder value” at the company’s annual meeting next month.

Ellis said he may “submit one or more proposals for shareholder action” at the Irvine firm’s annual meeting June 15, according to a document he filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ellis, who started the company in 1995 and owns 9.2% of the stock, declined to elaborate on the filing. “The [filing] puts forth my intentions. It’s pretty much black and white,” he said.

Corporate executives declined to comment.

Autobytel.com went public in March 1999 at $23 a share. The shares fell as low as $4 last month. The stock rose 25 cents Thursday to close at $6.75 a share.

Ellis resigned as the company’s chairman and chief executive in 1998 to run Jubilee Investments, a Corona del Mar family trust that invests in technology start-ups.