Former Domain boss affirms he's happy to put family first
Former Domain boss Antony Catalano, who unexpectedly stepped down from the recently listed company, will not apologise to the Domain shareholders after the exit announcement triggered a sharp downturn in the share price.
The share price initially plunged 17 percent after the Melbourne-based chief executive cited family reasons for not wanting to continue the job.
When asked by the Herald Sun who interrupted his morning coffee run at Sorrento whether he though investors deserved an apology, Catalano replied "Why should I be sorry?"
Opening the back door of his car to show his children in booster seats, Catalano said "see those guys?"
His next words were "go away - seriously," before he made a swift exit in his four wheel drive.
Catalano was looking relaxed ahead of a planned trip to Aspen.
Catalano's resignation, which he said was because he didn't want to move to Sydney for family reasons, is reported to have cost him a possible $13 million.
Remuneration details released to the ASX revealed showed Domain cancelled the 4.26 million share options Catalano would have received if he had hit targets, such as doubling Domain’s value by June 2021.
After the announcement, Domain chairman Nick Falloon called investors to assure them that Domain "have a deep bench of executives built up over the years," according to the Herald Sun.
Fairfax Media, which holds 60 percent of Domain shares, were also hit hard.
They are down $90 million from the start of the week.
It was just last November when Domain was spun off Fairfax Media and floated on the ASX with a share price of $3.69. They now sit at $3.11 after crashing to $2.75.
The Australian has speculated Catalano had not embraced the new reporting requirements with Falloon as his new report, rather than his good mate, Greg Hywood.
Fairfax Media noted Catalano’s allies were disappointed he was not formally thanked for his contribution.
Gerard Delany, boss at Melbourne real estate agency Kay & Burton, said he was surprised and thought he was “getting a bit jack of travelling.”
“I also noticed there was no [acknowledgement of Mr Catalano] made by the company when he left which surprised me a bit because he played a pretty big part in the establishment of that Domain offshoot, which was a pretty great achievement,’’ Delaney told Fairfax Media.
Despite not having spoken to Catalano, Delany said he doubted the travel was the "real reason'' for the departure.
''He is a bit of a character, he has got a big family, it has been a drain because he didn't want to move to Sydney, maybe to some degree he has achieved what he set out to achieve and now he has done it, I don't think he is an ongoing managerial type of character,'' he said.