I was going to blog at the end of last week, but then never got around to it, about why Ian Dyson would be the obvious and perfect candidate for the job of Betfair CEO.
He was CFO at Rank and then M&S; he’s widely admired in the City; he’s got the CEO badge; he’s been on the Board at Betfair for the last year; as an insider, he won’t have the problem that anyone who comes from elsewhere in the gambling industry would have (in that he can credibly tell people why Betfair remains the future of the industry, without the obvious come-back that he was saying the opposite when he worked at Paddy Power/Ladbrokes/Bwin/take-your-pick); and his appointment would not irk any of the existing management team, which includes some obvious good candidates who might fairly feel aggrieved if the Number Two at some competitor were appointed in front of them more for political expediency than anything else.
The obvious sticking point, I was going to say, was that he’d only been at Punch Taverns for a year, but I was going to argue that his job there was basically done now that it has split.
And then lo and behold, the news comes out this morning that he’s quit.
Lump on.
Mark, Hold those bets!!! I’m normally all for a little inside information but after attending Thursday’s AGM and speaking to a couple of well placed employees (no names no pack etc), I was given the impression that the board were going to look outside the company for the replacement CEO.
Don’t think anyone could legitimately call Betfair the “future of the industry” at the moment could they? It will take someone pretty amazing and radical to step in and overcome all the problems they seem to be having. Anyone already there and not pointing out some incredible gaffes to the top brass is automatically tainted, in my opinion. Im sure BF will carry on making good profit and maybe even increase it but once they brought in the 60% premium charge they ended any hope of being the “future of the industry”. This route of trying to take a bigger and bigger % of customers’ wallet, or whatever they call it, may see them increase in profitability but they just become another hated bookmaking company of no more interest to anyone than say bet365, star sports or whoever.
Colston – we’ll see…
TH – Personally I think that, notwithstanding some mistakes, it would be absolutely legitimate – and ought to be being done all the time (to unhappy camper’s comment on a more recent posting). Maybe some time when I have more time I will write a post explaining why, and you can tell me why you think I’m wrong!
I look forward to your post, Mark. The impression I get is profit comes well ahead of innovation but I’ll be interested to see what angle you come from.
I see Mark Kleinman is reporting that Breon Corcoran has got the job. I know that he was their original choice, but I had heard he had turned it down. Apparently not!