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Firmage quits USWeb over UFO views

Newspaper reports company founder believes tech advances sprung from Roswell, NM UFO.
Written by Sean Silverthorne, Contributor
In a bizarre twist, USWeb founder Joe Firmage has quit his executive post even as a San Francisco newspaper was trumpeting his view that aliens are behind many of today's technological advances.

Firmage, 28, told the newspaper he was resigning to deflect publicity from the Santa Clara Web consulting firm, which recently merged with CKS. The story quoted company CEO Robert Shaw as agreeing with the decision.

"Given the market exposure associated with his outside interests, Joe suggested that we would all be better served if he didn't have an official role with the company," Shaw was quoted as saying.

The company could not be reached early this morning. No announcements about the resignation were on the USWeb/CKS Web site.

Firmage, who was CEO of USWeb (Nasdaq:USWB), became chief strategist of the combined companies.

ZDNN broke the story about some of Firmage's eyebrow-raising beliefs and controversial book published on the Web last October.

Firmage told the newspaper he wants to further publicize his beliefs, which include that many of today's high-tech advancements including computer chips and lasers can be traced back to a UFO crash in Roswell, N.M.

The paper characterized Firmage "the Fox Mulder of Silicon Valley," perhaps foreshadowing the kind of publicity Firmage is expecting.

Softbank Corp., the parent company of Ziff-Davis Inc., which publishes ZDNN, holds an investment stake in USWeb/CKS.

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