Travelzoo Chief Technology Officer Max Rayner, who was instrumental in building Fly.com, left the company last month.
Travelzoo declined to comment on Rayner's departure other than to cite a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, which notes that Rayner resigned his post April 30, "effective immediately."
Rayner's departure follows a couple of other employee exits at Travelzoo this year, although the three aren't necessarily related. Brian Clark, general manager of Fly.com, and Mindy Joyce, Travelzoo marketing director, left the company in the last few months.
From public filings about Rayner's Travelzoo contracts, it isn't a major leap to think that his departure is tied to Chris Loughlin's succession to Travelzoo CEO, a move slated to take place July 1.
In November, 2009, Travelzoo announced that Loughlin, who is executive vice president, Europe, would succeed CEO Holger Bartel on July 1.
Rayner became Travelzoo's chief information office in November 2007, reporting to then-CEO and current chairman Ralph Bartel, who controls the company.
A clause in Rayner's initial Travelzoo employment contract gave him the option of resigning, with his severance rights intact, if he hadn't received a bonafide offer within 19 months to become Travelzoo CEO.
In the interim -- beginning in October 2008 -- Holder Bartel succeeded his brother Ralph Bartel and became CEO.
In September 2009, with Travelzoo's metasearch product, Fly.com, having launched early that year and still under development, Travelzoo amended Rayner's contract, named him chief technology officer and provided him with what amounted to a cash incentive to remain with the company.
Rayner received a lump sum payment of $450,000 in September 2009 -- for remaining with the company and not executing his right to resign -- and the company increased his base salary to $517,500.
Only a little over two months later, Travelzoo announced that Loughlin would succeed Holger Bartel on July 1, 2010, and become CEO.
So, with Loughlin set to assume the CEO slot in July -- even though Rayner had been designated as a possible heir apparent in 2007 -- Rayner apparently felt it was time to take his leave.
What does it all mean for Travelzoo and Fly.com?
It's hard to say.
By tapping a business development guy instead of a product (i.e. technology) person, the CEO decision might signify that Travelzoo is moving toward the next stage in its development in trying to cash in globally on some of the products, including metasearch, that it now has in place.
Fly.com's traffic appears to be hitting its stride, but all acknowledge that it is losing money, which might be expected from an offering that's only a year-and-a-half old.