Booktopia has appointed voluntary administrators, weeks after suspending its shares on the ASX as it scrambled to secure emergency funding.
The embattled online book retailer has appointed McGrathNicol restructuring partners Keith Crawford, Matthew Caddy and Damien Pasfield as administrators who will reassess the business and explore a sale or recapitalisation.
Tony Nash’s Booktopia has been handed over to administrators.Credit: Julian Andrews
Booktopia, Australia’s biggest online bookseller, has been buckling under increasing financial strain for years following three straight years of unprofitability, a share price that has lost 98 per cent of its value, and a revolving door of senior executives including its most recent chief executive David Nenke, who resigned after exactly one year in the job.
It has made at least 90 jobs redundant in the past 18 months. Tony Nash, the co-founder who was ousted from the business he helmed for 18 years, was temporarily brought back into the business as an executive director and sales director.
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The company’s shares will remain suspended during the administration process.
Booktopia said questions should be directed to administrators, who have been contacted for comment.
In its most recent results update, the first half of fiscal 2024, Booktopia booked losses of $16.7 million and revenue that plummeted 22 per cent to $86.3 million.
Booktopia was founded in 2004 by Nash, his brother Simon and brother-in-law Steve Traurig and built significant market share of nearly 60 per cent over the following two decades.