‘I don’t like being the villain’: Booktopia founder defends company

Booktopia’s founder Tony Nash has defended the company amid investor disquiet about the online booksellers’ trajectory and relationship with its remaining institutional shareholders, saying he dislikes being a “villain in the investment community”.

Nash took to LinkedIn on Sunday to respond to an investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald that delved into the company’s problems, including how it went from investment hero to villain in its short 18 months as a listed company, with its market capitalisation shrinking from close to $400 million to just $26 million this week.

The article revealed serious concerns about Booktopia’s communications with investors and the shareholder backlash over Nash’s sale of a portion of his holding in the group for $4.5 million less than three weeks before a significant downgrade to the group’s earnings.

Nash’s LinkedIn post comes after he announced he would step aside from the role of chief executive officer in May amid an investor backlash sparked by his share sale. The group’s shares hit an all-time low of 17¢ on Wednesday last week. Booktopia’s shares swung around wildly on Monday, opening up 27 per cent before losing most of those gains to close up 2.7 per cent, 1¢ higher, at 19¢ amid heavier than usual trading.

In an at times eccentric and apparently light-hearted post – where he compared himself to Jack Reacher, the protagonist in a series of crime thriller books by author Lee Child – Nash declared he still expected big things for the polarising e-commerce group.

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“I don’t like being the villain in the investment community. There’s nothing fabulous about that. But at the cost of being a leader in the book industry. Never!” Nash told his connections on the social media platform.

“You do realise that there is no country in the English speaking world with an alternative online bookstore to Amazon, don’t you? Booktopia is the only one.”

His post began with a nod to a popular album from 1975 by English rock band Supertramp. “Crisis? What crisis? – one of my favourite titles from an old Supertramp album,” Nash said in his post.