Pureprofile’s former CEO and founder Paul Chan exits after 18 years
Paul Chan, founder and former CEO of online market research company Pureprofile, has left the company after 18 years.
Effective from today, Chan will step down from his role as chief innovations officer and from the board as managing director, the company announced on the ASX.
Chan’s departure is effective immediately
Chan founded Pureprofile in 2000.
Nic Jones, who was appointed as CEO late last year, will also take on the managing director role. When Jones was appointed, Chan took on the chief innovation officer role.
In addition to the changes, the company announced it is in the final stages of appointing a new chief financial officer and chief technology officer as well as a new managing director to run its UK office.
Earlier last year, after Andrew Edwards became executive chairman, it was announced Chan would report into him.
Edwards thanked Chan for his service to the company.
“I have known Paul from the time he founded Pureprofile and for him to take the company from a start-up to listing on the ASX is an immense achievement. He should be proud of what he has accomplished on his Pureprofile journey and we wish him every success in his new ventures,” Edwards said.
He went on to say he was excited about his new appointments, including Jones.
“Nic is putting in place key infrastructure and support pieces, which will set the business up for long-term growth and expansion. The positive impact he has already had on the Company is visible and Nic and I look forward to speaking with investors on the opportunities that lie ahead for Pureprofile.”
In February last year, Pureprofile reported earnings and revenue growth of more than 50%. For the six months ending December 31, the company’s earnings were $1.7m.
Mumbrella has approached Chan for comment.
At the time of publishing, Pureprofile had a market capitalisation of $19.2m, the lowest since it floated on the ASX in 2015.
I can’t see how PPL isn’t in deep trouble as it is currently constituted.
Market-cap down to $15.1m (Shareprice @12 cents…) as at Friday midday, and someone is selling down (nearly 1m shares sold since Monday).
The Cohort acquisition was a mistake IMHO, it was an overpay for a business that had peaked and was on its way down (but still making money I hasten to add) in a sector (lead gen and Co-reg) that is tightening. Pureprofile itself has always only been a slightly better than breakeven proposition at best, and the Sparc business is also coming off its peak in an environment where arbitrage in Programmatic is getting tougher.
I respect Jonesy, but it’s going to be a tough ask to justify his fairly hefty salary (listed company…check it out if you’re interested).
The options as I see it are:
a) Privatise, and hope to trade out with a bit less scrutiny
b) Get taken out by one of the bigger ad-tech stacks or one of the large performance players like Rakuten, Amobee, CJ…
c) Sell off the pieces that have some residual value (Cohort? Sparc?) and focus the business on the PP product
Paul Chan certainly had a red-hot go, but I can’t help feeling this wasn’t the exit he had in mind…
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