(Bloomberg) — Richard White, the Australian billionaire battling allegations of inappropriate behavior with women, has said he has a relaxed relationship with risk.
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“It’s perhaps a personality trait, but I’m not frightened by risk or uncertainty,” the WiseTech Global Ltd. chief executive officer told a podcast last year. “If you have risk you can turn it into something.”
Now, the self-made tech mogul is facing what’s likely his biggest risk since founding his shipping software company in 1994. Over the last three weeks, the drip of revelations from a court battle with an alleged former lover has gripped Sydney’s business elite. The case was also left largely uncommented on — in public — by WiseTech’s board of directors.
That changed on Monday when WiseTech’s board said it’s reviewing “the full range of matters” raised in fresh media reports about separate matters concerning White’s alleged historical inappropriate behavior. The company’s shares plunged 15%.
That has wiped $2.9 billion from his fortune, which peaked at $11.1 billion three weeks ago, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
“A founder CEO of a major Australian company is a public figure, front and central to the name, brand and success of the company,” said Helen Bird, senior lecturer at Swinburne Law School in Melbourne. “When the price of the stock drops in consequence of one of these type of news stories, it suggests that the reputation of the company has been affected.”
The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which represents some of the country’s largest pension funds, said the matter was a “major concern” for investors and called for the WiseTech board to investigate and respond appropriately.
White’s woes were thrust into the spotlight by his attempt to push a wellness entrepreneur, with whom he is alleged to have had a sexual relationship, into bankruptcy, according to the Australian Financial Review. Earlier this month, she applied to have the bankruptcy notice set aside. In an affidavit, she alleged White expected her to have sex with him in exchange for an investment in her business. The case is before Australia’s Federal Court.
The scandal entered a new phase on Monday, when the Australian Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age — citing sources they didn’t identify — reported White had paid millions of dollars to a former sexual partner to settle allegations made in late 2020. The newspapers said White had provided a board subcommittee with a statutory declaration denying the claims.