Booktopia co-founder and director Tony Nash has been named executive director and will assume the sales director role for the next six months – a move announced at the same time as David Nenke’s departure as CEO after a year in the role.
Booktopia chairman Peter George will assume the role of executive chairman and will take on full operational responsibilities for the next six months while a search begins for a new CEO.
Today’s announcement also revealed that 50 positions within the company are to be made redundant, and the directors will be paid in share options rather than cash for the next six months.
The changes followed a strategic review announced in February after a decline in the first-half results.
“The sustained volatility of the economic climate, in addition to changing consumer spending behaviours, have continued to contribute to business results that have been below our expectations,” said George, referring to the restructuring.
“The board remains committed to building a profitable and sustainable business in the short and long-term and as such, we have regrettably had to make the very difficult decision to make a large reduction in headcount and will commence the necessary consultation with our staff.”
George added that the restructuring is expected to reset the company’s cost base to become more commercially viable and improve prospects moving forward.
“We recognise we will be losing many talented staff in this process and would like to express a sincere thank you to those affected, for all of the hard work and commitment they have put into the company,” said George.
Booktopia has sealed a $1 million line of credit to fund the redundancies, which are predicted to save $6.1 million in annualised cost savings from FY25.
Booktopia has withdrawn its earlier, advising further financial details will be shared when the company publishes its full-year accounts in August.
This article was first published by Inside Retail.
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