EXIT SEES TURBULENT CHAPTER END FOR ONLINE BOOK RETAILER
BOOKTOPIA has given outgoing chief executive Tony Nash a stronger push out the door, changing its position from giving him a different role within the embattled online book retailer to a clean exit from the executive team of the online retailer.
“The board of Booktopia has given Tony Nash notice to step down as CEO effective from close of business yesterday July 13, 2022,” the company said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
The news sent Booktopia shares sliding 4.6 per cent to 31c on Thursday. The stock had an issue price of $2.30 when the company listed on the ASX in December 2020 and traded as high as $3.06 that month.
Mr Nash, who is the founder of the group, will remain as a director of Booktopia and also remains a significant shareholder. He fell from favour with investors and the board after he sold $4.2m of shares in Booktopia in May last year, just months before the company issued a significant downgrade to earnings. Like other online retailers, Booktopia suffered a drop in sales since lockdowns ended. Mr Nash has not been fined by the regulator for selling shares before the downgrade but it is nevertheless a dramatic turn for the worse for the cofounder and now former chief executive. In May, the company said Mr Nash would step down and take up a new role within the company. In a trading update at that time, Booktopia said revenue was up 9 per cent to $194.7m for the nine months to the end of March. Earnings slumped by 63 per cent to $5.5m. “The board has determined that retaining Tony Nash as the chief growth officer, whilst at the same time appointing a new CEO was not in the best interests of the business going forward,” the company said on Thursday. Mr Nash has a sixmonth notice period but will leave immediately. The current chief financial officer, Geoff Stalle, has been appointed as the interim CEO.