"Economic Expert" Patrick Byrne Dumped by CNN

I eagerly tuned in to CNN's State of the Union broadcast yesterday, where Overstock.com's wacky CEO, Patrick Byrne, was scheduled to be a guest. According to the advance billing, he was scheduled to "survey the nation's economy."

Hey, who better to survey the nation's economy than a CEO who has never made a nickel in profits for his company, and is facing delisting by Nasdaq because his auditors quit over his efforts to cook the books? He is now in a public battle with his ex-auditors, which has resulted in far more than the usual derision.

Seriously, though, CNN's bookers had no choice. What other CEO of any retail outlet bigger than a pushcart would be available during the busiest retailing weekend of the year? Byrne was scheduled to appear from studios in San Francisco, not Salt Lake City, where the corporate headquarters is located.

Here he was, while his company teetered on ruin, either flying into San Francisco for the chance to get his puss on national TV, or living it up on Telegraph Hill or wherever, far from his beleaguered and SEC-investigated company.

So guess what? He was a no-show. I hear, from someone in a position to know, that Byrne was late, so his appearance was canceled. Maybe the plane was late, or he got held up at a bar, or whatever.

Hey, they don't call him "America's worst CEO" for nothing. But he is endlessly entertaining, so please, Nasdaq, don't delist him. CNN, you've got his number. Call.

© 2009 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.