Kim Dotcom seeks CFO for file-sharing site ahead of share sale

Kim Dotcom, the businessman accused of the biggest U.S. copyright infringement, is seeking a chief financial officer for his new venture Mega ahead of a potential initial public offering.

The venture, started a year after his Megaupload.com file- sharing site was shut down, is seeking a New Zealand-based CFO, Dotcom said on Twitter Inc.'s website, linking to an advertisement. The site has “aggressive growth plans” and will pursue an IPO within 18 months, according to the job posting on the Trade Me Ltd. website.

Dotcom announced Mega in January and began accepting registrations for the site, which lets users upload, download and share files including music and video. The website, similar to Megaupload.com, competes with services such as Dropbox.com and Google Inc.'s YouTube, Dotcom said.

Dotcom, 39, is fighting extradition to the U.S., where he was indicted by prosecutors who said his file-sharing website generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds from the exchanges of film, music, book and software files. The site accounted for 4 percent of Internet traffic, U.S. prosecutors said in court filings.

New Zealand police raided Dotcom's rented mansion in Auckland on Jan. 20, 2012, and Megaupload sites were shut down worldwide by the U.S. Department of Justice. The businessman had his bank accounts frozen in Hong Kong and spent four weeks in jail before winning his release on bail.

Dotcom, who changed his name legally from Kim Schmitz, said in January the 220 workers at Megaupload will be offered jobs with the new project. Mega will allow file encryption through an Internet browser with the user having the only key to unlock the file, preventing governments and storage providers from viewing the contents, he said in January.