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Following post-IPO declines, Blue Apron CEO steps down
Blue Apron Holdings Inc. has replaced its chief executive officer barely six months after going public.
The meal kit provider, a major force in the technology-fueled market dubbed the on-demand economy, announced on Thursday afternoon that Matt Salzberg had stepped down from the top post. Salzberg was one of the co-founders of Blue Apron, which sells ingredient packages for preselected dishes that consumers can cook at home. These kits form the basis of a multibillion-dollar market that has numerous other players competing alongside Blue Apron.
Going forward, the company’s competitive efforts will be led by Brad Dickerson, who has taken over the reins from Salzberg as the new CEO. He joined Blue Apron last year as chief financial officer after serving in the same capacity at Under Armour Inc.
Dickerson will have his work cut out for him. Blue Apron’s market capitalization is currently down about 70 percent since its stock market debut thanks to a series of negative developments that started in the run-up to the public offering.
The first was Amazon.com Inc.’s $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. two weeks before the meal-kit provider’s IPO. The acquisition, which has since been completed, wiped billions of dollars from traditional retailers’ stock value and led Blue Apron to reduce the target price for its offering from $15 to $17 to $10 to $11 per share. It launched at the bottom of the range shortly thereafter and has since suffered several more setbacks.
Those included Amazon’s move to directly enter the meal-kit market and a third-quarter earnings report that fell short of investor expectations. Blue Apron grew revenues 3 percent to $210.6 million, but it lost 47 cents per share, considerably more than the 42-cent loss Wall Street had anticipated.
The company no doubt hopes that the leadership shakeup will return some investor confidence. As CEO, Dickerson may have to make tough decisions about Blue Apron’s direction to keep up with rivals such as Amazon and HelloFresh AG, which went public in October.
Image: Blue Apron
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