(Bloomberg) — WiseTech Global Ltd.’s board is assessing matters raised in a media report Monday that said billionaire co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Richard White paid millions of dollars to a former sexual partner to settle allegations of inappropriate behavior.
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“The board is currently reviewing the full range of matters raised in today’s media reports and is actively seeking further information and taking external advice,” WiseTech directors said in a statement on Monday. “It is conscious of the potential impacts on the company and will carefully evaluate all relevant factors in its assessment.”
Nine Entertainment Co. publications — The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age — said a woman made damaging claims about White in late 2020. The reports said White had provided a board subcommittee with a statutory declaration denying the claims. The newspapers said they are not suggesting the allegations against White are true, only that they were made.
White is the largest shareholder of WiseTech, a provider of logistics software that had a market value of A$41 billion ($28 billion) as of Friday’s close. The stock plunged as much as 14% in early Sydney trading Monday.
A spokesperson for WiseTech referred all questions to a representative for White’s lawyers, who didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking a response from White to the media reports.
Only two current WiseTech directors were on the board at the time the allegations were made, and the company held a series of crisis meetings over the weekend, according to the reports.
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