Richard White
Critics of Richard White, the billionaire founder of Australian technology group WiseTech, say he invested in Vinyl Group as a hobby because it’s all about music and technology.
The largest shareholder in Vinyl, which has recently made a series of acquisitions including Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Refinery29 and Concrete Playground, says his hobby is playing the guitar.
He has a small number of investments, he told the Red Leaf Securities podcast. And he initially declined to put money into the business, which was originally called Jaxter, because he didn’t see the right management
“When they brought Josh (Simons) in as the new CEO, I thought, well, this is a guy that actually knows how to get customers, knows how to build technology, knows how to drive a business, and that was the key for me to invest,” White said.
The ASX-listed publisher and music company is forecasting its first profitable quarter in the December quarter. It reported a 190% surge in revenue to $14.4 million in the year to June.
“There is a lot of potential,” White said.
“It’s not all acquisitions. They built a product and brought it in organically, even though you need acquisitions to get scale.
“It’s very clear that you’ve gone from something that was not particularly successful and not at all strong on revenues to something that’s got a major set of business capabilities.
”I was investing in the strategy but more importantly in the character of the person to drive that
“When Josh came in their revenue was I think at no stage had they had anything more than $100,000 across five years.
“They're about to become cash profitable as well.”
He said Vinyl's has taken the WiseTech playbook by growing via acquisition.
White has invested $17.5 million directly into the company through rights issues and placements and has acquired about 200 million shares on market.
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