Prince leaves the company formerly known as Blackwater
Scahill reported this morning on alternet.org (and now its on HuffPo) that Erik Prince just announced he will leave Blackwater and focus on an entirely different business ( a private equity venture). Joseph Yorio replaces Gary Jackson (now “former President”) and Danielle Esposito (who’s been with Blackwater for a decade) will become Exec. VP. AP reports Prince will remain as Chairman but not CEO.
In a letter to staff, Prince acknowledged that the “PR challenges were bigger, more relevant than he realized”. Guess he was one of those CEOs who just surrounded himself with a small, tone deaf inner circle that couldn’t or wouldn’t pass on the bad news: many Americans didn’t approve of the way Blackwater conducted itself in Iraq. (Guess this is the exception to the rule that even bad publicity is better than none at all.)
How the cocky have fallen. First Shrub and now Prince. Not a big shock actually now that OIF is in far saner and grown-up U.S. hands.
