UFOs claim Web CEO's scalp

There was a rushing noise, a blinding flash, and my job vanished...

By John Lettice • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 12th January 1999 14:57 GMT

Free whitepaper – Optimizing the data center for cost and efficiency

The founder of Internet consultancy USWeb resigned from the company on Friday, citing his belief in UFOs. But yesterday Joe Firmage was claiming he’d been misquoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, which had run a piece where he described his very own close encounter.

Firmage’s views have been fairly well-known for some time. He busted himself down from CEO to chief strategist in November to avoid damaging the company, he said, and in December USWeb merged with CKS to become a $2.1bn operation. Not bad for a 28 year-old who believes in extra-terrestrials and runs a website The Word is Truth covering such matters in his spare time. Which he now seems to have more of.

Among his interesting beliefs are that when a UFO crashed in Roswell in 1947, the US government obtained technologies which it's been seeding into industry ever since (Aliens invented Microchips) . Or at least allegedly, that is, because yesterday he was claiming to journalists that he never said he believed that at all, nor that he’d said he’d been visited by an alien. Unfortunately Firmage’s website, where we understand his beliefs are set out in some detail, seemed to be uncontactable earlier today. ®

Free whitepaper – Thermal design of Dell PowerEdge server