Atomos CEO, Estelle McGechie is no longer with the company. In a somewhat surprising announcement to the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) Atomos announced that they were changing their CEO. As Atomos is a publically traded company they were lawfully required to notify the ASX of this move.
This move did rattle Atomos stockholders and shares yesterday fell 18.33% to 73.5 Australian cents. While Atomos has yet to appoint a new CEO,
Atomos chief technology officer, Trevor Elbourne will assume the interim position.
Image credit: Atomos
The reason for this move according to Atomos was, ‘Estelle McGechie’s appointment as CEO of Atomos has concluded, primarily because she has not yet relocated to Australia. The Company has always indicated that it requires the CEO to be based in its Melbourne headquarters.’
Estelle McGechie was only announced as CEO back in September last year. The press release issued by Atomos at the time stated:
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Atomos Limited announced the appointment of its Chief Product Officer, Estelle McGechie, to the position of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.
Whilst currently based in Silicon Valley, Estelle is Australian-born and will return to Melbourne with her family after a successful career in the United States with global technology and entertainment brands such as The Walt Disney Company, Apple, Logitech and Frame.io.
Following the appointment to Chief Product Officer in June 2021, Estelle has leveraged her international product development and marketing expertise to evolve the Company’s approach to software and services platforms, a key strategic pillar for Atomos.
Estelle’s elevation to CEO will enhance Atomos’ ability to deliver on its growth strategy by expanding further into new verticals such as gaming and enterprise with both hardware and software products.
Prior to joining Atomos in June, Estelle was Vice President of Marketing at Frame.io, a cloud-based video collaboration platform, which was acquired by Adobe in August 2021.
During her time at Apple, Estelle oversaw worldwide product development and marketing of professional video applications such as Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Compressor, in addition to further developing Apple technologies of ProRes and ProRes RAW, XML, FxPlug, and Workflow Extensions.
Chris Tait, Atomos’ Executive Chair said: “After Estelle’s appointment as Chief Product Officer in June this year she quickly demonstrated to the board and her peers her understanding of our key technologies, markets and customers. It became clear she can substantially contribute to and lead the effort on delivering our strategy. Her signature collaborative style and rigorous approach to developing and bringing video technology products and services to market is a great fit for Atomos at this important stage of our strategic roadmap. We are thrilled she has taken on the CEO role and welcome her back home to Australia.”
Deputy Chair, Stephen Stanley said: “Echoing Chris’ comments, we are delighted that Estelle will be driving our future strategy as her skills align strongly with a fast-paced global video technology company such as ours. In line with Estelle’s appointment, Chris Tait will revert to the role of Non-Executive Chair. We would like to thank Chris sincerely for his additional efforts over the past 18 months after taking on increased responsibility during the height of the COVID crisis.”
Estelle McGechie commented: “I’m excited to take the helm at Atomos to help drive the Company to new heights and further deliver on our vision. Atomos is a global business with exceptional world-first video technology products and services. It’s an honour to lead this extraordinary organisation alongside our dedicated employees, the executive team, the Board, and a community of customers who are so deeply committed to their craft. I look forward to bringing everything I’ve learnt from my international career home to Australia to continue our positive momentum.”
On the 15th of February this year Atomos released its half-yearly revenue figures. Even though the company made almost $41 million (Australian dollars) in revenue which was almost 25% more than they made in the previous corresponding half-year, they spent a lot more money on R&D and advertising. This meant that its net profit after tax for the half-year was just $321,000. This was 82% less than the previous corresponding half-year. Over the last 6 months, the share price has fallen quite a lot. Atomos doesn’t pay shareholders dividends, it invests all of its money back into the company.
Companies often have to go through cycles where they need to invest a lot of money into R&D, especially when they need to come up with new products to sell. I would assume that because Atomos released quite a few products in 2021, they needed to invest a lot of the profits they subsequently made into coming up with new products to release this year.
Despite this news and the falling share price, financial experts still forecast good results for Atomos moving forward.
Below you can read the full statement that was released by the Atomos Board of Directors:
Atomos Limited (ASX: AMS, ‘Atomos’ or the ‘Company’) today provides an update on changes to its senior leadership team. Estelle McGechie’s appointment as CEO of Atomos has concluded, primarily because she has not yet relocated to Australia. The Company has always indicated that it requires the CEO to be based in its Melbourne headquarters.
Trevor Elbourne, Atomos’ Chief Technology Officer (CTO), has been appointed interim CEO and is based in the Company’s headquarters in Melbourne. He will shortly launch the Company’s new products
that he and his team have been developing since 2020. Trevor is one of Atomos’ founding employees, having joined the Company in 2012 to lead product design. Since then, he has played a vital role in determining Atomos’ technology strategy and product roadmap. In 2017 Trevor was appointed CTO and oversaw the successful development of Atomos’ flagship Ninja V and Shinobi products. As part of the senior leadership team for over four years, Trevor is uniquely qualified to take on the CEO role in the interim period. The Board will commence a global search process for a permanent appointment. A summary of the terms of Trevor’s employment contract are set out in the Schedule.
Atomos reconfirms its FY22 guidance for revenue of $95m+ as well as an EBITDA margin of 12-15%. The Company will host a webinar this morning at 9.15am AEST with Chairman, Chris Tait, Interim CEO, Trevor Elbourne and CFO, James Cody. To register for the webinar, please use the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84578966127
Commenting on the change in CEO, Chris Tait, Non-Executive Chair said: “I would like to thank Estelle for her efforts at Atomos and on behalf of the Board wish her the best in her future endeavours. Trevor is a logical and highly capable appointment as interim CEO given his intimate knowledge of the products and technology that have made Atomos one of the global leaders in video technology today. As the Company embarks on an exciting expansion of our product line-up, the Board is confident Trevor will bring his deep experience in technology innovation to ensure our products continue to meet the changing needs of our growing customer base.”
Trevor Elbourne, interim CEO, said: “I’m excited to lead Atomos as we take the important next step along our technology roadmap by launching a suite of new products in late April that will improve video production workflows for our customers. It’s a great time to be a content creator and we look forward to continuing to empower our highly creative customers with a raft of new products that seamlessly connect to the cloud. We look forward to sharing more details at the National Association of Broadcasters Trade Show.
Authorised for ASX release by the Atomos Board of Directors.
