In 2003, "The Onion" was purchased by David Schafer, who had previously managed the $2.5 billion investment fund, from previous long time owners Peter Haise and Scott Dikkers. The sale was a process that had been in the works since July 2001 and according to a memo from then owner Haise, " understands our quirky company and knows that we need some time to get to a higher level of operations and sales." In a 2003 CNN profile of "The Onion", Schafer stated with regards to the company and the purchase, ""The Onion"s strong point was never accounting, financial management, or business. Buying it was a bit of a shot in the dark, but we felt we could get a handle on it." Also in 2003, editor Robert Siegel quit his day-to-day role at "The Onion" to focus on writing screenplays full-time. "After the 14,000th headline I felt the itch to use a different part of my brain", he said. "You can go mad thinking in headline form." In the wake of his departure, long time staff writer Carol Kolb assumed the publication's duties as editor of the publication.