This was published 2 years ago
Booktopia co-founder Tony Nash ousted from CEO role
The board of the country’s largest online bookseller Booktopia has forced co-founder Tony Nash to step down from his role as chief executive and asked that he does not work in the office during his notice period.
The ASX listed company has appointed its chief financial officer Geoff Stalley as an interim chief executive officer while it searches for a permanent replacement.
Booktopia CEO, Tony Nash, will remain a director of the group.Credit: Janie Barrett
The announcement came as a surprise, given the company said in May that Nash would only step down from the role he had held at the group since 2004 once a new chief executive had been appointed. Nash had intended to stay on in an executive role overseeing the group’s strategy.
The change of tack for Booktopia followed an investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald into the group’s troubled 18 months as a listed company and how the company fell out of favour with investors, who have wiped more than $400 million off the group’s market capitalisation in recent months.
The investigation also revealed that Booktopia had been quietly laying off staff after being unable to keep up with rosy forecasts made due to a downturn in online spending following the relaxation of pandemic restrictions.
Booktopia’s shares fell 5 per cent to 31¢ following the announcement of Nash’s departure from the group’s executive ranks, giving it a market cap of $44 million.
“The company has just completed an internal business review focussed on, amongst other things, its overall strategy, efficiency and cost structure. As part of this process, 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 in a statement.
“Accordingly, the board has given Tony notice to step away from executive management of the company in order to enable a new CEO to enter with a fresh start on well laid foundations.”
The company intends to keep Nash on as a director. He retains a 14 per cent stake in Booktopia.
The company also added that under Nash’s contract he will still be available to assist the company, “but will serve out his six month notice period out of the office”.
Booktopia chairman Chris Beare wished Nash well for his future and praised the entreprenuer for building the company into a group that has $240 million in turnover.
Nash could not to be reached for contact.
A day after this masthead’s investigation, Nash told his connections on social media platform LinkedIn that running a listed company was not easy. “No one said being listed was easy... it isn’t, but it is the path we are on and I for one look forward to see how Booktopia continues to grow and succeed.”
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