Domino’s Pizza CEO Mark van Dyck quits after seven months

Domino’s plan to revitalise its struggling business have been thrown into disarray by the departure of its CEO of only seven months.

Hungry Jack's founder and Domino’s chairman Jack Cowin.

Domino’s Pizza is looking for its third boss in a year after the company revealed its chief executive of only seven months would step down, casting doubt over its strategic reset.

The shock departure of Mark van Dyck has heightened concerns about the future direction of the company and its much-needed revitalisation to revive poor sales and sluggish profits.

Domino’s was forced to clarify to investors that its earnings outlook was unchanged.

One of Australia’s most successful fast food entrepreneurs, billionaire Jack Cowin, founder of Hungry Jack’s and the largest shareholder and chair of Domino’s, will now assume the role of executive chairman.

Mr Cowin sought to hose down fears of worse news to come: “there is no great drama here” he told The Australian.

Shares in Domino’s slumped as much as 25 per cent on the news that former Coca-Cola Company executive Mr van Dyck had told the board he wanted to exit, triggering an inquiry from the market operator.

The stock ended on Wednesday down $3.18, or 15.8 per cent, at $16.96 after a rollercoaster ride.

Domino’s, which has more than 3700 stores spread across Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe, has endured a share price collapse of almost 90 per cent from its highs of close to $160 in 2021. The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns triggered a boom in home delivery pizzas, and investors convinced themselves that Domino’s was a tech company more than a humble pizza maker and deserved tech-style earnings multiples.

But the latest resignation – coming amid a flurry of senior management departures in the past few years to now include two CEOs – has heightened concerns about the future direction of the pizza chain.

Former Domino’s Pizza boss Don Meij. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Domino’s dropped the bombshell before the market opened on Wednesday that Mr van Dyck – who only joined as CEO in November to replace long-serving boss Don Meij – had told the board he intended to leave the company, with his departure to take effect on December 23.

He also stepped down from the Domino’s board as a director, effective immediately.

No explanation for his decision to leave was given. However in a short statement, Mr van Dyck said he felt privileged to lead Domino’s through a “transformative period”. Mr Cowin, who owns just over 25 per cent of the company’s issued capital, told The Australian on Wednesday morning that the Domino’s business was travelling fine and was meeting its consensus forecasts. He said the latest CEO departure was simply a “management change” as Mr van Dyck was looking for something different “at this stage of his life”.

“Well, he just decided that at this stage of his life, in six months’ time, he would like to move on,” Mr Cowin told this masthead.

The billionaire said Mr van Dyck had first joined Domino’s as a consultant and then stepped into the CEO role when its former boss, Mr Meij, left in November.

“He was brought in to do some specific things, which he has done, like set up the strategy, closed some stores that were losing money and he’s done that and so the question is do you now move into a new stage of execution of some of the ideas that we want to work on?” he said.

“The business continues and there is no great drama here.”

Domino’s executive chair and largest shareholder Jack Cowin says there is no drama at the company, it is just a management change. Picture: Nikki Short

Domino’s did not issue a trading update with the announcement of the CEO’s departure, but Mr Cowin confirmed to The Australian the company was meeting consensus forecasts. Domino’s later told the ASX in response to a “please explain” that there was no other market-sensitive information it was aware of to explain the share price dive.

The Australian contacted former CEO Mr Meij, who is currently in Denver, in the US, for a business trip. He said he was unaware of Mr van Dyck stepping down or what had happened at his former company. He declined to comment on the matter.

Mr Meij left the company late last year after 22 years as CEO but in the wake of a string of profit downgrades and a collapsing share price.

When Mr van Dyck was appointed as CEO in November, he began knocking the company into shape, which resulted in several executive departures, including the sister of Mr Meij, Kerri Hayman, who is the boss of its flagship Australian and New Zealand arm and will step down in August after a 37-year career with the Domino’s brand.

Mr van Dyck had also declared there were “no sacred cows” as he set about making changes, and this resulted in the closure of 205 underperforming stores across Japan, Europe and Australia/New Zealand.

Domino's chief Mark van Dyck will leave just before Christmas.

But now Domino’s must start again with a new CEO and a new strategy to lift the pizza maker out of the earnings doldrums.

Mr van Dyck’s departure will cause heartburn among investors who had held hope he could turn the former market darling’s fortunes around.

“It has been a privilege to lead Domino’s through a transformative period,” Mr van Dyck said. “With a clear strategy and strong team in place, I believe the time will be right at the end of this calendar year to hand over to the next CEO. My focus in the months ahead will be on supporting a smooth transition.”

The recent management changes at Domino’s also includes resignations and reshuffles at its European and Japanese arms and the announced resignation of its previous CFO in February. Now it will rack up three CEOs in a year.

“We find this surprising given that he [Mr van Dyck] was only appointed in November 2024 and only recently met with the investment community,” Barrenjoey analyst Tom Kierath said.

“At first glance it appears the challenges Domino’s faces are greater than initially feared and that the turnaround will take much longer than expected.”

RBC Capital Markets analysts noted it was the sixth executive reshuffle or departure since Mr Meij’s exit.

“In our view, Domino’s is still in the early stages of a potential turnaround with franchisee profitability sitting well below the company’s $130,000 EBITDA/store target,” they said. “Global cyclical headwinds are ongoing with structural headwinds in Japan and France specifically.”

Originally published as Domino’s Pizza CEO Mark van Dyck quits after seven months