The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a bit of a slow day so far this Tuesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has slumped by 0.15%, dragging the Index down to around 7,317 points. But that's nothing compared to the woes of the Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) share price.
ASX 200 tech share Megaport is having a shocker today, no way around it. The Megaport share price closed at $5.74 yesterday. But the company opened at $5.50 this morning and has fallen a nasty 10.8% so far, down to just $5.12 a share. Ouch.
So what's going on here that has elicited such a dramatic slump in the value of Megaport shares this Tuesday?
Well, it appears this share price slump has been sparked by some news out of the company today. In an "executive management update" released to the markets this morning before open, Megaport has announced that none other than its CEO, Vincent English, has tendered his resignation, effective immediately.
Megaport share price tanks after CEO's abrupt departure
In the ASX statement, Megaport founder and chair, Bevan Slattery, had this to say:
Vincent has provided outstanding leadership as CEO of Megaport for the past six years, leading the business through its scale up and scale out transformation.
Vincent has been responsible for driving the vision of the Company through a period of incredible growth and for creating a legacy which sets the Company up for accelerated revenue growth and operational success in the future.
No other reasons were given for English's rather abrupt departure.
Slattery will now act as interim CEO while Megaport commences a "global search" for its next leader. English will remain "available" at Megaport until 30 April to "advise and assist" the company with the transition.
English might get some heart from the Megaport share price's reaction to the news of his departure — investors clearly aren't thrilled. Although this might also be a consequence of the somewhat rushed nature of this development.
But the Megaport share price has been on struggle street for a while regardless. The company has lost almost 15% year to date in 2023 so far, as well as a painful 60% or so over the past 12 months:
Megaport shares are also down more than 75% from their all-time high above $21 a share that we saw back in late 2021.
