- Andrew Bassat will hand the reins to former Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev as SEEK (SEK) looks to split its operating and investment divisions
- Bassat will transition to a new full-time role as Executive Chairman and CEO of SEEK Investments, but will remain a Director of SEEK
- It’s thought that SEEK Asia Pacific & Americas and SEEK Investments can both benefit from a greater degree of independence and focus
- The transition comes as the job website’s half-year net profit fell 8 per cent and it contemplates selling a major stake in Chinese job listing marketplace Zhaopin
- SEEK is down 6.2 per cent to $28.46 per share
Andrew Bassat will hand the reins to former Commonwealth Bank chief Ian Narev as SEEK (SEK) looks to split its operating and investment divisions.
As of July 2, 2021, Bassat will transition to a new full-time role as Executive Chairman and CEO of SEEK Investments, but will remain a Director of SEEK.
Narev currently acts as the group’s Chief Operating Officer and CEO of SEEK Asia Pacific & Americas (AP&A).
According to today’s announcement, the Board believes that SEEK AP&A and SEEK Investments can both benefit from a greater degree of independence and focus.
“AP&A’s core operating performance will be the cornerstone of the company, whilst investors will retain significant economic exposure to Investments and Zhaopin,” said Graham Goldsmith, Chairman of SEEK.
“SEEK will have greater capital flexibility for re-investment in AP&A and for dividends.”
Goldsmith added that an independently managed investments business, with access to external capital, will more easily be able to carry out “aggressive long-term investment to build large businesses.”
The transition comes as SEEK reports an 8 per cent drop in profit for the first half of financial 2021, from $75.6 million last year to $69.7 million. The company said this was largely due to an increase in product and technology investments as well as lower net interest, which reflected lower funding rates.
SEEK is also in talks to sell part of its stake in Chinese job listing marketplace Zhaopin. That would take its current 61 per cent interest to a 23.5 per cent ownership that would value Zhaopin at around $2.2 billion.
SEEK is down 6.2 per cent to $28.46 per share at 12:55 pm AEDT.