In the latest C-suite shakeup at Lightspeed Commerce, executive Brandon Nussey is stepping down from his position as COO.
The e-commerce company announced Nussey’s departure March 3, but said the COO would stay at Lightspeed until May to ensure a smooth transition. After Nussey’s departure, the COO position will be eliminated; Lightspeed stated that the responsibilities will be distributed among other executives.
Lightspeed said it will not backfill the role, adding that the change is not related to cost savings.
The company described Nussey’s departure as “planned.” Lightspeed said the decision to leave was Nussey’s, adding that Nussey indicated that he’s ready to explore new opportunities more closely aligned to his professional roots as chief financial officer.
The departure of its COO is the latest in a number of changes to Lightspeed’s executive team in recent years. After the company’s stock price plummeted amid the broader tech selloff, founding CEO Dax Dasilva was replaced by JP Chauvet as the firm also overhauled its C-suite.
Lightspeed also announced a layoff of 300 employees in late January as it aimed for “profitable growth.” The news came just a few weeks after company Chauvet showed up fourth on a list of Canada’s highest-paid executives. Chauvet earns $27.7 million CAD annually, according to a CBC story on the country’s biggest C-suite earners.
Chauvet previously said that most of the staff cuts impacted management, and that the “reorganization” was mainly around restructuring toward one product versus needing to reduce costs within the company.
As BetaKit reported in December, Lightspeed has seen some staff turnover in recent months, which a company spokesperson said was “business as usual, and nothing out of the ordinary,” emphasizing that Lightspeed continues to hire aggressively. “As with any company with our size and scale, there has been turnover and staff movements for a variety of reasons,” a spokesperson for Lightspeed told BetaKit at the time.
Lightspeed’s recently announced third fiscal quarter earnings report kicked off with the announcement of a net loss of $814.8 million (the company reports all figures in USD). Lightspeed attributed the bulk of the loss to a non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $748.7 million. Lightspeed said it conducts an annual goodwill impairment test every December 31.
“Given the decline in the valuations of technology companies broadly and Lightspeed’s share price, the Company’s net assets exceeded its market capitalization as at December 31, 2022 which was an impairment trigger for the Company,” Lightspeed announced.
Lightspeed also posted revenues of $188.7 million, an increase of 24 percent compared to the same time last year, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $5.4 million, which was less than its previous forecast of approximately $9 million.
While the third fiscal quarter didn’t represent a significant increase in revenues compared to the second fiscal quarter of 2023, it did show a slight upward trajectory between the quarters. The company’s second-quarter revenues amounted to $183.7 million.
But again, as between first and second quarter revenues, second and third quarter revenues for 2023 showed a decline in percentages year-over-year from 38 percent to 24 percent.
In regards to Nussey’s departure, Chauvet praised him for the strategic insight and expertise he brought to the company, which included steering Lightspeed through its Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange IPOs and scaling its financial services offerings.
“On behalf of Lightspeed, I would like to thank Brandon for his outstanding leadership, selfless partnership and financial and operational stewardship,” Chauvet said. “Brandon helped lay the solid foundation that supports the Company’s continued innovation, global presence and profitable growth.”
“It has been an honor to work with JP, Asha, Dax and the Lightspeed leadership team and so many exceptionally talented individuals as we grew Lightspeed into the leader it is today,” Nussey said. “I leave knowing that Lightspeed is in good hands and well positioned for the future.”
Founded in 2005, Lightspeed provides cloud-based commerce and point-of-sale (POS) software to restaurants, retailers, and hospitality providers. The acquisitive retail tech firm, which trades on the TSX and NYSE as ‘LSPD,’ has teams across North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region that cater to businesses in over 100 countries.
Feature image courtesy Lightspeed Commerce.