The CEO of Prosper Marketplace — Aaron Vermut — will be saying good-bye to the firm, to be replaced by David Kimball, Prosper’s finance chief. Kimball will begin manning the helm as of December; he has been with the firm for a little over six months after nine years at financial-services provider USAA.
Prosper, like many of its peers in marketplace lending, has had a tough year in 2016 — with investors falling out of love with loans provided online as quickly as they fell in love with them. Prosper — like many with a similar marketplace model — does not function as a lender so much as a conduit for borrower debt to be purchased by money managers and other investors.
The firm’s revenue is derived from the fees it charges to use its platform — meaning revenue began to significantly suffer as fewer investors were drawn to the site to purchase debt. Over the first half of 2016, Prosper recorded a net loss of $53.1 million, or nearly four times the $13.5 million loss it recorded in the first half of 2015.
That has taken a bite out of Prosper — the firm has laid off 28 percent of its workforce and Vermut agreed to forgo his salary.
The firm has been actively seeking investor commitment to a sizable loan-buying agreement — but no final agreement has been made.
Vermut has reportedly been looking to leave the company since earlier this year to spend more time with his family. He will remain a director of the company while his father, Stephan Vermut, will step down as executive chairman of Prosper.
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Aaron Vermut joined Prosper as president in April 2013 and became chief executive in March 2014.
