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Investor takes aim at ShopHQ’s 2nd-in-command

By
Kaja Whitehouse
Published Nov. 3, 2013, 11:17 p.m. ET

Activist investor Clinton Group is looking to clean house at home-shopping network ShopNBC, taking aim not only at the CEO but also at his No. 2, The Post has learned.

Last week, the hedge fund sent an open letter to parent ValueVision, saying it wants to replace CEO Keith Stewart. Behind the scenes, Clinton also has singled out his chief operating officer, Carol Steinberg, in a confidential presentation it made to the board.

Steinberg, who earned more than $800,000 last year, is part of a management team that Clinton called “distracted,” with a number of top execs living in East Coast cities 1,000 or more miles from the company’s Eden Prairie, Minn., headquarters.

Clinton cited a Facebook posting by Steinberg last month,in which she said she’s in her hometown of Philadelphia on Mondays and Fridays, according to the presentation, which was obtained by The Post.

“Maybe you’ll find time for lunch this fall,” Steinberg wrote another industry executive on Oct. 15 in the now-deleted post. “Mondays or Fridays in PHL, take your choice.”

Philly-based Cable giant Comcast is ValueVision’s second-largest shareholder, with a 14.4 percent stake held through its NBC Universal unit.

Clinton, which has a 5 percent stake in ValueVision, said it’s “especially concerned about the seemingly short weeks” amid poor ratings for ValueVision’s web site by mobile users.

ShopNBC, which is being rebranded as ShopHQ and competes with much larger rivals HSN and QVC, ranked dead last out of 25 sites in a February poll by research firm Foresee.

The company defended Steinberg in a statement, saying she “has played an integral role in the creation of significant value for shareholders.”

ValueVision also backed CEO Stewart, citing its soaring share price since he joined the company in 2009. Shares fell 2.4 percent Friday to $5.21, which is below pre-financial crisis levels of $12 a share.