The Associated Press is reporting Andrew McKelvey, 74, the billionaire founder and former chief executive of Monster Worldwide Inc., died early Thanksgiving morning in New York after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
McKelvey founded Telephone Marketing Program, a yellow pages advertising business, in 1967, which became TMP Worldwide. He was integral in acquiring The Monster Board and Online Career Center in the ’90s. Then four years later Monster.com was launched more or less as we know it today.
He left the company in 2006, dogged by questions about his role in backdating employee stock options. In January of 2008, he agreed to relinquish much of his voting stake in Monster and reached a monetary settlement with the company, federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Though not knowing him personally, anecdotal evidence points to a man who was shrewd and calculating in his business ventures. Family says he “lived by his own rules, and believed that timing is everything.”
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm
That is very sad to hear. I think he made an important contribution to the recruiting industry.
-Bryan