Buy.com Nabs Top Disney Exec

In the latest defection of a mainstream entertainment executive to an Internet start-up, Web retailer Buy.com Inc. said Tuesday that it has hired a senior executive from Walt Disney Co.’s theme park and resort design unit, Imagineering.

Mitch Hill, 40, senior vice president and chief financial officer at Imagineering, becomes CFO of Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com on Nov. 1. He replaces Allen Barbieri, who resigned for personal reasons, according to Buy.com.

Hill said his compensation includes options to buy stock in Buy.com, which intends to offer shares to the public soon.

Buy.com sells computers, software, music, books and other goods on its Web site. It’s willing to sell at or below cost to undercut competitors and tries to make money by selling ads.

Former Disney online chief Jake Winebaum and News Corp. digital publishing executive Matt Jacobsen are among those wooed away recently by new Internet-inspired businesses. Several high-profile Imagineers also have departed for Web-related ventures, including unit President Kenneth Wong.

Hill, a Harvard MBA, worked as a Goldman Sachs & Co. real estate investment banker. Joining Disney eight years ago, he served as CFO over its Animal Kingdom theme park, Disney Cruise Line and Celebration planned community in Florida, and over two new parks Disney is building: California Adventure in Anaheim and DisneySea in Tokyo.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.