Wine.com Appoints Chief Financial Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Wine.com, the nation's #1 online wine retailer, today announced the addition of Kenton D. Chow as Chief Financial Officer.  In this newly created position, Chow will oversee the finance functions, business development, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations.  

Wine.com just announced the seventh straight quarter of growth over 20%. Revenue over the last 12 month period ending 9/30/11 was $60.5M, up 25% from $48.4M the previous 12 month period.  Second quarter revenue ending 9/30/11 was $10.3M, up 25% from $8.2M the same quarter last year.  

Chow brings over 25 years of experience in high growth public and privately held companies. Prior to joining Wine.com, he was the Chief Financial Officer at a number of high technology companies in Silicon Valley, including Aurora Networks, Catena Networks and Cobalt Networks.  His experience includes leading a successful IPO, mergers and acquisitions, including Sun Microsystems' $2 billion acquisition of Cobalt Networks, and over $350 million raised in multiple equity and debt financings. He also held senior financial management positions at Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Bay Networks and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. 

Chow holds a M.B.A. and B.S. in Finance from Santa Clara University. He is a certified public accountant in California and also served on the Advisory Board for the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

"In our continued effort to grow our company and build an energetic management team, we are thrilled to welcome Ken Chow as CFO," said Rich Bergsund, Wine.com CEO. "With his wealth of experience and prior success, we are confident Ken can help take Wine.com to the next level."  

About Wine.com

Wine.com is the nation's #1 online wine retailer, according to Internet Retailer magazine's annual ranking of websites by revenue, offering thousands of wines, wine gifts, gift baskets and monthly wine clubs. Wine.com's mission is to be the ultimate resource for wine enthusiasts, whether shopping for themselves or sending a gift.  Wine.com offers a combination of selection, value, service and information that is impossible to find in a brick and mortar store. Wine.com is the world's most visited wine website, according to comScore Media Metrix and also runs the wine flash sales site, WineShopper.  Wine.com is majority owned by Baker Capital.  For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.wine.com, its blog at http://blog.wine.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/winecom and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/wine_com. Visit WineShopper at www.facebook.com/wineshopper and http://twitter.com/wine_shopper

About Baker Capital

Baker Capital, founded in 1995, is New York based private equity firm with $1.5 billion under management.  Baker Capital invests globally in digital communications, media and technology companies at all stages of development.  The partners of Baker Capital have extensive private equity and operational experience allowing the firm to provide its portfolio companies with not only capital, but also global strategic thinking and relationships.

SOURCE Wine.com