In February I wrote that things were about to get interesting at Navarre, where an activist investment group had finally won two seats on the board of the struggling, New Hope-based distributor and publisher of digital media.
Last week, Navarre announced that its CEO of four years, Cary Deacon, was gone, and that a national search for a new CEO was underway. As the 8-K makes clear, this was not a resignation to pursue other interests. The board "terminated the employment" of Deacon, who'd been with Navarre a total of nine years.
In addition, Navarre finally found a buyer for Funimation, a unit that licenses and brands Japanese anime and children's animation. The price: about $24 million cash, or 25 percent what Navarre paid when it bought Funimation in 2004. The buyer: an investment group that includes the man who sold Funimation to Navarre and led it the past seven years.
