Former Mirage CFO joins Web grocer

Monday, Nov. 8, 1999 | 11:59 a.m.

Daniel Lee, who in September resigned abruptly as chief financial officer of Mirage Resorts Inc. of Las Vegas, is going to work as CFO at Internet startup company Homegrocer.com of Seattle.

Lee said he was recruited to the company by former Netscape Chief Executive Jim Barksdale, who is a financial backer and board member of Homegrocer.

The company, with operations in Seattle, Portland and Orange County, Calif., allows customers to buy groceries online and have them delivered the next day.

Lee sees logic in his leap from casinos to e-commerce.

"It's not as bizarre as it might seem at first blush," he said. "Mirage is a service business that's won all sorts of awards for customer service. We have people driving around in Volkswagen Bugs just correcting things. They want absolute perfect customer relations."

Lee's first job will be to raise money for Homegrocer.com's expansion into Los Angeles and undisclosed locations in the East. The company plans to expand into 20 cities next year, taking it to 10,000 employees from its current 1,000, he said.

The company is considering going public to raise the money, he said.