Online auction house QXL appoints UK head

QXL.com, the online auction house, which is in the middle of a partial stock flotation, has appointed Herbert Kim, head of direct marketing at BOL.com, as UK managing director.

The appointment comes as chief executive Jim Rose prepares to launch 25 per cent of QXL on the London Stock Exchange and New York’s Nasdaq this week. It is thought Kim’s arrival will allow Rose to concentrate on the float and take a strategic view of the business while Kim focuses on UK opportunities.

A QXL.com spokeswoman says: “We needed to have someone looking after the UK, especially with the float taking place.”

Kim takes on the new role following a year with BOL.com, the Bertelsmann and AOL-owned bookseller, which he helped establish alongside competitors such as Amazon.com. He was poached by BOL from Blackwell’s, an online book retailer he set up himself.

Kim’s appointment mirrors similar “country manager” positions at QXL’s foreign operations in France, Germany and Italy.

A recent revaluation of QXL’s offer share price, in the wake of a shares dive by Freeserve, the Dixons-owned ISP, will see the company valued at about £220m.