WiseTech Global responds to ASX over Richard White's new role
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More news: WiseTech has responded to an ASX query into the future role of its founder and former chief executive Richard White, after recent media reports claimed that he has yet to sign the 10-year consultancy agreement for his new position of "founder and founding CEO".
WiseTech — which confirmed that White would step down as CEO in October last year after a personal scandal and accusations of inappropriate conduct — told the ASX that the key terms of the new role had been agreed and were immediately announced.
"It was the board's intention to formalise and document the fuller details of the engagement in due course," it said.
WiseTech shares were down 22.3% to $94.62 at 2:11pm AEDT after the logistics software company this morning announced the resignation of four of its six board members due to "intractable differences" relating to White's ongoing role.
Morningstar analyst Roy Van Keulen said he doesn't see the board resignations as a material loss, though it could signal a shift in power towards White.
He noted that the board changes will see the average tenure on WiseTech's board more than double from under 10 years to over 20 years. The remaining two directors are co-founder Maree Isaacs, who has a 30-year history with WiseTech, and Charles Gibbon, who has been with the company for nearly 20 years.
WiseTech Global shares tank after four board members quit
More news: WiseTech Global shares dived more than 20% in early trading after the troubled software giant announced the resignation of four of its six board members, including chairman Richard Dammery, due to "intractable differences" relating to the ongoing role of founder Richard White.
WiseTech shares were down 22% to $94.87 at 10:30am AEDT.
The company also revised its full-year guidance, with revenue downgraded to the bottom end of its range due to further delays to three new products. Its EBITDA margin is guided towards the top end of its range due to cost cuts.
What they said: "Questions will continue to be raised on governance and how pending court cases distract the founder and how this may impact the broader business," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Garry Sherriff.
"Today's board changes also calls into question how the process of appointing a new CEO will proceed, as an update was not mentioned in this morning's announcement."
Four WiseTech Global board members resign over handling of Richard White
The news: Four members of WiseTech's six-person board will resign on Wednesday, the company said in a statement to the ASX, following the company's half-year earnings report is handed down.
The resignations centre around "intractable differences" in views around the ongoing role of Richard White, WiseTech's founder.
The context: The announcement came after WiseTech last Thursday suspended trading of its stock.
White's leadership of the company he founded has become less certain over the past four months following several lawsuits being brought against him by people inside and outside of WiseTech.
The resigning board members include chairman Richard Dammery, Lisa Brock, Fiona Pak-Poy and Michael Malone. That leaves two people as board members: Charles Gibbon, who previously chaired the board for 12 years, and WiseTech co-founder Maree Isaacs.
Brock, who chaired WiseTech's audit and risk committee, and Pak-Poy, chair of people and remuneration, joined the company's board last February.
Mike Gregg, an early investor in WiseTech who previously sat on the board for the 17 years until 2022, will take one of the vacated independent director seats. The new three-person board will appoint new directors "in due course", the release said.
Gregg is a founding partner of Shearwater Capital, which is an investor in Capital Brief.
White stepped down as CEO last October after he was sued by an entrepreneur, Linda Rogan, who claimed he invested in her company in exchange for a sexual relationship. Rogan later settled the matter in court and withdrew the accusations.
White was offered the title of founder and founding CEO, a consultancy role that would allow him to continue to oversee WiseTech's product roadmap, but as of February he had yet to sign a contract for the job. He will hand down the company's half-year financial report on Wednesday alongside interim CEO Andrew Cartledge and interim CFO Caroline Pham.
What they said: "Their resignation will take effect after the signing of the half-year financial report and release of half-year results to ASX on Wednesday 26 February 2025," WiseTech's ASX release said.
"This followed intractable differences in the Board and differing views around the ongoing role of the Founder and Founding CEO, Richard White."
