Blue Nile CEO Diane Irvine plans to resign as CEO of the Seattle online jewelry retailer effective this Friday. No reason was given for the departure, and we’ve reached out to the company for more information.
She’s being replaced on an interim basis by Vijay Talwar, a former Nike executive who has worked as the company’s senior vice president and general manager of international for the past 15 months.
The news comes as Blue Nile released third quarter earnings, showing a sales increase of 11.2 percent to $75 million. Net income for the quarter totaled $1.9 million, down from $2.8 million for the same period last year.
That miss sent the stock spiraling in after hours trading.
Blue Nile finished the quarter with $40.2 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The company’s stock is down 14 percent on the year, but it was up about seven percent in trading today prior to the earnings announcement. However, in after hours trading, the stock lost 16 percent of its value.
Talwar, who holds a MBA from the University of Chicago, is the former CEO of the William J. Clinton Foundation India.
Irvine, the former CFO at Blue Nile, spent 12 years at the company.
