Blood on the carpet: A week after Betsson was announced that CEO Pontus Lindwall had “completed his assignment” and that the company had embarked on a search for his replacement, it announced yesterday the resignation of chairman Patrick Svensk with immediate effect after the company’s major shareholders said they “no longer had confidence” in him.
That’s disappointing: The statement went on to say that it was the manner of how Svensk handled Lindwall’s “dismissal” that caused the rupture. Svensk had been on Betsson’s board for 17 years with the last four years as chairman. The company allowed him a valedictory comment in the press release where he said “very sad, and I am sorry that I have disappointed our major owners.”
Bad timing: Betsson has recently been the subject of speculation that it could be the subject of a bid from sports apparel company Fanatics which is reportedly sifting its options with regard to how it can enter the sports-betting sector. How much this kind of boardroom kerfuffle is a hindrance in such circumstances is hard to gauge, as is the question of whether it is at all connected.
