Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD) said that founder Dax Dasilva has resigned as chief executive officer (CEO) after 16 years at the helm of the e-commerce company.
Dasilva, 44, will transition to become executive chair of the company’s board, with President J.P. Chauvet succeeding him as CEO, effective immediately. Chair Patrick Pichette, a former Google executive, will be the lead independent board director.
Lightspeed, which sells point-of-sale and payment software, announced the leadership change as it released earnings for its fiscal third quarter ended December 31. Revenue grew 165% to $152.7 million U.S. while the company posted a $9.9 million U.S. loss on an adjusted basis.
Lightspeed shares tumbled after the market closed and continued to drop after the earnings and management changes were announced, hitting $28.50 U.S., down 11% from yesterday’s closing price.
The company’s stock is down more than 70% from a September 22 peak on a softening earnings outlook, persistent supply chain troubles, and a broad selloff in technology stocks.
Lightspeed is also trying to recover from an attack by a short seller who claimed in a 125-page report last September that the company had inflated its numbers before going public in 2019. Dasilva called the allegations “categorically false” and defended Lightspeed’s accounting methods.
Dasilva started Lightspeed in 2005. He grew the start-up into a payments and e-commerce company with 3,000 employees and 156,000 customer locations in more than 100 countries.
Lightspeed’s market capitalization of $6 billion U.S. makes it one of the 10 largest publicly traded technology companies in Canada.
