$200m payday for WiseTech director as he joins co-founder in selling shares

Another WiseTech director has sold $200m of shares as the company reels from Richard White’s sex scandal, prompting the Australian Shareholders Association to seek answers.

Richard White faced shareholders directly at WiseTech’s investor day this week, for the first time since sensational allegations surfaced.

The Australian Shareholders Association will seek clarity from WiseTech after the second director in a week sold hundreds of millions of shares in the company as it reels from sensational allegations involving its billionaire founder.

WiseTech director Charles Gibbon sold more than 1.5 million shares in the company on Friday, reaping almost $200m, days after co-founder and fellow board member Maree Isaacs sold her entire holding in the logistics software titan.

Mr Gibbon — who has been a WiseTech shareholder since 2005 — sold 8.8 per cent of his total stake, saying he needed to “undertake necessary personal estate planning measures”. He said it was the first time he had sold WiseTech shares since 2019.

WiseTech director Charles Gibbon will reap almost $200m after the share sale.

A four page ASX filing made no mention of the allegations involving Mr White – which included exchanging business advice for sex.

Unlike the announcement about Ms Isaacs – who sold her entire stake to Mr White last Friday – Mr Gibbon disclosed his sale during trading, not after the market closed. He and Ms Isaacs made no mention of their share sales at the company’s annual meeting two weeks ago.

“I remain committed to WiseTech Global and am excited about the enormous opportunities being pursued by the company, and into the future,” Mr Gibbon said.

Australian Shareholders Association chief executive Rachel Waterhouse said the $200m share sale involved a “big, significant estate to plan”, and said the association would seek more details from WiseTech.

“The first reason (involving Ms Isaac’s sale) seemed quite a genuine reason. We’ll find out what’s going on. If there’s any further directors selling shares.”

WiseTech shares fell as much as 2.4 per cent to $128.42 on Friday after the company announced the sale, tracking the broader market.

The company held its investor day on Tuesday where Mr White and chairman Richard Dammery faced shareholders directly for the first time since the allegations surfaced and prompted Mr White to resign from its board and executive.

Mr White, who moved into a new consultant role, keeping his $1m per year salary, promised investors he would not “override” management in his advisory position and his resignation was a “circuit breaker”.

“If you have the good of the business in your sights and you have a disagreement, what you’ve got is an opportunity for improvement,” Mr White said.

“It’s not a time to override the other person just because you can and say this is the way we’re going to do it; that might have to happen in the end so you have consistency, but ultimately what you’re trying to do is to stop worrying about the mechanism.”

WiseTech director and co-founder Maree Isaacs was smiling as she arrived at the company's investor day.

Ms Isaacs, who remains a director, also attended the investor day at Sydney’s W Hotel, and was smiling.

She sold her 10.2 million shares, which are worth more than $1.3bn, to Mr White last week, with WiseTech announcing the sale in an ASX filing late on Friday evening.

Ms Isaacs — who Mr White told The List: Australia’s Richest 250 this year they were “a bit more than friends for a time” before striking an entrepreneurial partnership — will reap an initial payment of $285m for her shareholding.

She will then receive future quarterly payments based on the volume weighted average price of WiseTech shares over a period of up to seven years.

Ms Isaacs said the sale would allow her to “access the value and liquidity of her shares” and she “remains committed to WiseTech and its future”.

“I am extremely grateful to Richard for his work and leadership in creating WiseTech. After 30 years of helping to build WiseTech, I was keen to start to unlock and realise some of the value in the WiseTech shares I hold through RealWise Holdings Pty Limited,” Ms Isaacs said.

WiseTech former chief executive and major shareholder Richard White at the company's investor day.

The allegations surrounding Mr White sparked an earnings downgrade, with chairman Mr Dammery saying they had delayed key product launches.

WiseTech expects to deliver revenue of $1.2bn to $1.3bn in fiscal 2025, representing revenue growth of 15 to 25 per cent versus fiscal 2024. This compares with the company’s previous guidance of $1.3bn-$1.35bn.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected to be between $600m and $660m. This compares with previous guidance of between $660m and $700m.

But, Macquarie analysts said Mr White was able to now spend an “incremental 20 per cent” of his time on product, which was the “best outcome for the business”.

“Based on numbers provided today and industry benchmarks, CTO (Container Transport Optimisation) is potentially significantly larger on a terminal basis, at ~$90bn. Implied current pricing in Phase I suggests A$1.4bn of near-term revenue opportunity,” Macquarie analysts wrote in a note to investors after the company’s presentation.

“Recent decisions made by management reinforce the message that product quality is the primary goal, not time-to-market.”

Originally published as $200m payday for WiseTech director as he joins co-founder in selling shares