PurchasePro CEO Departs

Updated from 10:59 a.m. ET

PurchasePro.com (PPRO Quote - Cramer on PPRO - Stock Picks) said Monday that its chairman and CEO, Charles "Junior" Johnson Jr., left the company.

PurchasePro has been dogged by questions over the last several months. Most recently it missed the deadline to file its quarterly report with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, there have been concerns about its revenue recognition methods. And a lawsuit claimed that Johnson stole the business model for PurchasePro, something the company denied.

In its press release, PurchasePro said, "It was Mr. Johnson's vision and entrepreneurial spirit that created PurchasePro. It was also Mr. Johnson who recognized that there is a critical time in the successful life of every business at which the entrepreneur, the founder, the visionary, relinquishes his executive authority and remands it to a seasoned operational team. That he saw that time had arrived is with the same vision that he created the company."

A PurchasePro spokesman declined to comment beyond the release.

The company's stock, which has been battered, was rallying on the news. After climbing as much as 22%, it recently up 36 cents, or 14%, to $2.94 a share.

Board member Todd Bradley was named to succeed Johnson as chairman. No one was named to succeed Johnson as CEO.