Tiny Ltd co-founder Andrew Wilkinson. — Bloomberg
TORONTO: Canadian holding company Tiny Ltd plunged 16% on Monday after its founders stepped down as co-chief executive officers and one of them said he’d sell millions of shares.
Tiny mainly invests in Internet companies. It said last Thursday that co-founders Andrew Wilkinson and Chris Sparling stepped down effective immediately to become co-chairmen, adding they’d remain “actively involved.”
Then last Friday, a filing showed Wilkinson intends to sell as many as 3.1 million shares, or about 1.7% of the company, worth about C$8.4mil based on last Friday’s closing price of C$2.7 per share.
The disposal included a donation of shares to Wilkinson’s private foundation and gifts to family and former employees, according to a statement. Wilkinson still owns more than 60% of Tiny, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The company lost about C$80mil in market capitalisation by the end of trading in Toronto on Monday, with trading volumes more than five times the three-month average.
“The majority of Wilkinson’s wealth is still in Tiny, and most of those shares were transferred to the Tiny Foundation, as well as to early Metalab and other employees,” a spokeswoman for Tiny said of the share sale.
“This was pre-planned for a long time and discussed in Andrew’s upcoming book, Never Enough, where he details his decision to give back to early employees who contribute meaningfully to the success of the company.”
Regarding the change in CEO to Jordan Taub, the company pointed to Wilkinson’s previous statement that Taub has “proven himself to be an exceptional leader” and that the change enables him and Chris to focus on relationships with founders, sourcing acquisitions, and setting the company’s long-term vision. — Bloomberg
