Vudu hires ex-eBay finance chief as CFO

Watts to oversee all finance, accounting, legal areas

By Samantha Clark -- Video Business, 8/25/2008

AUG. 25 | Set-top movie download service Vudu has hired former eBay financial executive Chris Watts as chief financial officer.

“Chris is going to play a critical role in developing financial strategies as we extend our retail presence, deepen relationships with AV resellers across the country and expand the functionality of Vudu’s e-commerce platform,” Vudu CEO Mark Jung said in a statement. “Chris brings deep experience in translating business strategy into financial and operating plans, and that will be immensely valuable to our company going forward.”

As divisional chief financial officer for eBay's North American stores, including eBay.com, StubHub.com, Shopping.com and Rent.com, Watts drove revenue growth and operating margin expansion through product diversification, pricing plans and efficient distribution and customer acquisition, the Vudu statement said.

Watts also worked with eBay's international stores and was "instrumental in driving the growth of key businesses in Europe, including eBay's highly successful franchise in the U.K.," the Vudu statement said.

He previously held management positions at Commerce One and was a consulting manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to play a leadership role at a company that is truly defining innovation in this exciting new category of digital content delivery,” Watts said in the statement. “This is an outstanding management team, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

At Vudu, Watts will be responsible for finance, accounting, human resources, legal and administrative areas.