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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Prodigy Services Ceo Plans To Step Down May 1

New York Times

Prodigy Services Co., a leading provider of computer on-line information services, said Wednesday that its president and chief executive, Ross Glatzer, would retire May 1. He is the second senior executive to leave the company in two months.

Prodigy, which is jointly owned by IBM and Sears, Roebuck & Co., named Edward A. Bennett, a former executive with Viacom Inc., to be president and chief executive.

Glatzer, 48, said he approached IBM and Sears about retiring last year, but held off while the search for a successor was conducted.

The departure of Glatzer, who joined Prodigy in 1986, follows that of Scott Kurnit, the company’s executive vice president and second-incommand, who left in March to join the new on-line services division of MCI Communications Corp.

The change in command also comes shortly after Prodigy announced its first profitable quarter after 10 years in business, and as the on-line services market is about to become vastly more competitive.

The introduction of new services later this year by Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Corp., as well as the growing popularity of the global Internet web of computer networks, will only increase pressure on Prodigy and its two leading rivals - America Online Inc. and Compuserve, which is a unit of H&R Block.

Glatzer said Wednesday that he was leaving to spend more time with his family.

But people close to the company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggested that his departure might have been the result of a management shake-out.