Blue Nile CFO resigns, shares drop further

Blue Nile, the Seattle-based online jewelry seller, again is looking for a chief financial officer after Monday's announced resignation of Robin Easton.

Shares slumped downward more than 6 percent on the announcement and an analyst said the company's Web traffic fell in February.

Shares dropped 6.24 percent to $39.34 in midday trading, and the stock has lost nearly 63 percent since hitting a high of $106.16 on Sept. 21.

The company said Easton's resignation would take effect March 31. It also said Terri Maupin, vice president of finance and controller, would take on the responsibilities of principal financial and accounting officer as the company intends to look for a new CFO.

Also Monday, The Associated Press reported that Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney said in a note to clients that data from comScore Inc. showed Blue Nile's number of unique visitors fell 18 percent year over year to 816,000 in February.

Easton joined Blue Nile in September, and previously worked at Paccar Inc. as treasurer. Before Easton's hire, the company had offered the job to Scott Devitt, managing director and senior analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. of St. Louis, but he cited personal reasons and turned down the job.

Since its stock price hit a record high in September, the company has been hurt by the economic downturn, and Blue Nile said in February that its first-quarter and 2008 earnings would miss analysts' expectations.