InfoSpace Lands a New Pilot

SAN FRANCISCO -- If there's a wilder CEO than InfoSpace's (INSP Quote) Naveen Jain, I haven't met him. After a recent story I wrote about Redmond, Wash.-based InfoSpace, Jain called me repeatedly from any number of continents, emailed me as late as 11 at night and as early as 7 the next morning. He's hard to understand, talking a mile a minute, but his verve is infectious -- he appears to have the energy of two men. Maybe all that coffee up there.

But as impossible as it seems, the Infospace executive suite is about to get even more energy. Arun Sarin, who served as CEO of Vodafone AirTouch's (VOD Quote) U.S. and Asia-Pacific operations, has joined InfoSpace as CEO. Jain, the founder, will keep the chairman title and add chief strategist to his business card.

"I work 20 hours a day, man," Jain says. "Really, I prayed to the God and asked him how I could have more than 24 hours a day. And one day, He said to me, hire a guy who is smarter than you, who works just as hard as you, and you'll have a 48-hour day. And then the God brought me Arun." ...