Richard White, billionaire founder of WiseTech Global, has sold more than $200 million in the software giant’s shares over the past two months at a time the company has been engulfed in turmoil over his personal life and as its board directors feuded.
That dispute came to a head this week when four independent directors including chairman Richard Dammery abruptly resigned, citing differing views on how to deal with a report into White’s behaviour that was due to be released on Wednesday.
WiseTech founder Richard White.Credit: Bloomberg
WiseTech had engaged two law firms, Herbert Smith Freehills and Seyfarth Shaw, to investigate several allegations made against White, including by an employee and a contractor.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has also taken an interest in the findings of that report, according to people briefed on the matter who asked for anonymity.
The disruption at the company, one of the country’s most successful technology groups, has sent the share price tumbling even as many major investors continue to back White. Monday’s board exodus triggered a 20 per cent plunge in WiseTech’s value and wiped $3 billion off the wealth of White, who is WiseTech’s largest shareholder.
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Shares closed marginally down on Tuesday ahead of the company’s annual results presentation on Wednesday.
White told investors on December 24 that he had sold nearly 3.6 million shares between October 2 and December 20. According to the notice, RealWise, the private company White holds the shares in, owned 36.6 per cent of WiseTech, or more than 122 million shares.
But a joint investigation by the Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review can reveal that White has continued to sell shares over summer, and has sold around 1.87 million shares since Christmas Eve. The average share price over that period was $122, meaning White probably raised some $229 million from the sale of WiseTech shares.
