Quickflix board coup put down
Quickflix executive chairman Stephen Langsford and his board will continue leading the Perth-based DVD rental and streaming business, after a bid to have them thrown out was overwhelmingly rejected by shareholders.
About 79 per cent of shareholders voted in favour of keeping of the status quo at an extraordinary general meeting in Sydney today, with its would-be corporate raiders falling well short of their claimed votes.
Matthew Joynes, the spokesperson for the would-be board members, was claiming their group had stitched up 40 per cent of the vote before today’s meeting.
The vote means co-founders Stephen Langsford and Simon Hodge, as well as non-executive director David Sanders, will remain on the board.
In a statement to shareholders Mr Langsford thanked shareholders, declaring it had been a "distracting time" for the board, costing both time and money.
However he said he recognised the company's lagging share price the company would now focus on "improved financial outcomes" through subscriber and revenue growth.
The decision marks an end to the sometimes spiteful four-month battle between the incumbents and its corporate raiders, which included threats of legal action and accusations of impropriety from both sides.
Mr Joynes, who is based in Los Angeles, planned to turnaround the under-pressure Quickflix business, and accused the current management of peddling a "misguided business model”.
The corporate raiders wanted the Perth company to ditch its DVD rental business and concentrate on the streaming arm in the ilk of US behemoth Netflix.
In a separate announcement, Mr Langsford revealed today Quickflix had signed a deal to stream its service to mobile phone maker Huawei’s new Ascend smartphone.
Quickflix shares were steady at 1.1 cents at the closed.
