Unfortunately for its long-suffering shareholders, the Catapult Group International Ltd (ASX: CAT) share price has crashed to a multi-year low in morning trade.
At the time of writing the sports analytics and wearables company's shares are down a massive 21% to a lowly 62 cents.
Why has the Catapult share price crashed lower?
Investors have been hitting the sell button in a panic this morning after Catapult announced the sudden resignation of its chief executive officer Joe Powell.
According to the release, the Catapult board and Mr Powell agreed that now is the right time for a new CEO to lead the company through its next phase of growth.
Mr Powell has provided the company with 6 months' notice and will remain with it to the extent required by the board. A global executive search process for a new CEO has now commenced. Co-founder, executive director, and former CEO Shaun Holthouse has agreed to increase his executive commitment until a new CEO is in place.
Catapult's executive chairman, Dr. Adir Shiffman, said: "As the global leader in the sports technology industry, the next phase of Catapult's growth requires a CEO with strong strategic capabilities, senior expertise in a global enterprise, and a commitment to creating shareholder value."
What now?
This certainly isn't a good look for the company and I can't say I'm surprised that its shares have crashed lower today. If you were a CEO of a company and confident in its growth potential, I doubt you'd step down after less than two years in the role. So the market may interpret this as a sign that Catapult's future growth prospects aren't as rosy as hoped.
As cheap as Catapult's shares do look at this level, I intend to continue to sit on the sidelines. Especially given its recent update which revealed that its much-hyped Prosumer business wasn't performing to expectations.
Instead of Catapult, I would suggest investors look at small cap tech shares such as Citadel Group Ltd (ASX: CGL) and ELMO Software Ltd (ASX: ELO).
