Some of the most powerful and influential companies remain in the hands of the executives who founded them and who are almost impossible to remove.
Last month’s resignation of billionaire technology CEO Richard White from WiseTech has prompted questions of governance and “key man risk” in technology as a number of the sector’s most powerful and influential companies remain largely in the hands of executives who founded them.
WiseTech’s shares, which were initially savaged, have bounced back. However, the company’s governance has come under scrutiny. Swinburne University law and governance specialist Helen Bird said the episode suggests WiseTech board was “in a thrall” of White.That incident and others, including an ongoing restructure of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, have led some in the sector to call for a re-examination of how technology companies are governed.
“I think the market at times can be wrong about how to think about a company strategy, or evaluate where a company is going, and can be much more near-term oriented,” he said. OpenAI’s original mission, established at its founding as a non-profit in 2015, is to “develop artificial general intelligence safely and for the benefit of humanity”. Last month it closed a $US6.6 billion funding round, valuing it at an estimated $US157 billion and cementing its place as one of the world’s most valuable private companies.
“And with that comes like a form of transparency and fiduciary duty that I think creates a much higher likelihood that behave.”
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