Overstock CEO and Bitcoin Messiah Patrick Byrne Takes Medical Leave of Absence

Overstock.com CEO and chairman Patrick Byrne has taken an indefinite medical leave of absence from the company. Byrne has a long history of medical problems after a long bout with cancer nearly 30 years ago. Due to the cancer and related heart problems, Byrne says, he has undergone more than 106 surgeries over the last three decades. And in the last year, he has battled a recurrence of Hepatitis C, which he first contracted on a visit to China in the early ’80s. “I’ve been really gutting it out over the past few months,” he says.