Overstock CEO signs off

The founder and CEO of Overstock.com has gone on "indefinite medical leave."

Patrick Byrne informed stakeholders that he has stage 4 Hepatitis C, has finished treatment for it, and will be stepping down. He recommended that the company's general counsel Mitch Edwards take over as acting CEO – which the board immediately agreed to.

Hepatitis C is a liver infection caused by a virus held in blood. Byrne revealed that he believes he contracted it in China in 1984 when his head was sewn up in "less-than-ideal conditions." Stage 4 occurs when there is severe scarring (or cirrhosis) of the liver and it is unable to function properly.

There is no stage 5 and the only useful course of action is a liver transplant, a difficult surgery to recover from that can take upwards of a year. Byrne was optimistic however, saying in the note: "I think I have it beat but only time will tell."

On the company itself, Byrne said it was performing well, adding: "I am intensely proud of my nearly 2,000 colleagues for having built a consistently profitable $2 billion e-tailer (on a fraction of the capital afforded our competitors)." ®