Twenty-year Billabong veteran Derek O’Neill has been removed from his position as the CEO of the surf wear giant and the board has moved Target MD Launa Inman in as managing director and chief executive, according to a story in the Australian.
Billabong chairman Ted Kunkel, as as recently as February refuted rumours that the board planned to dump Mr O’Neill, thanked the outgoing CEO for his service but said that the board had decided the company needed “new leadership and skill sets for the next stage of its development”. . . Mr O’Neill, a lifelong surf fanatic who opened Billabong’s European business at the age of 26, will leave the company today.
Inman, a former chief executive at Target Australia, will start work on May 14, 2012 with a fixed salary of AUS$1.3 million a year with up to “$1.3m in short-term bonuses, plus long-term incentive payments of up to 47 per cent of her salary.” In related news, Paul Naude, the president of Billabong USA North America has been promoted to president of the Americas.
We guess the biggest question is, does Ms. Inman surf?
[Link: The Australian]
does any executive surf?lets see ,australian target is like australia’s poor mans version of wal mart. australia’s target surfwise specialise’s in a discounted rebadged version of copies of major surfwear lables disguised as piping hot. officeworks sells paper and inks and office supplies. and at one stage sold rip curl badged paper,pencils and pencil cases.
the problem the bong has is you look at many surf orientated forums the old catch phrase of “only a surfer knows the feeling” is now “only a shareholder knows the feeling”
trouble is in pinching cents billabong shareholders are losing $$$$$’s.
most surfwear companies seem to be experiencing difficulties in the transition to big business .the smart (????)suits seem to lack a basic surf culture?? phil jarretts “salts and suits” needs to be compulsorly bed time reading for surf company CEO’s (along with attached resignation letters for most of them)
PLEASE COME BACK GORDON ! you may need dougall to help you before the bong loses what good staff it has left
What a mess, I’m so happy I sold my shares back when they were around $20, O”Neill should have got the boot a long time ago. I don’t predict it getting better soon, especially with the America’s run by the old Gotcha brain trust. Best thing would be to break off successful brands and liquidate the rest.
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