Rich still bullish despite dismissal
Graham Rich, the former chief executive officer and publisher ofMorningstar Australia, says he is not devastated by the events in the Supreme Court on Friday and his ensuing dismissal by the Morningstar Inc board of directors the following day.
“I have been working for myself for 18 years and I’m still working for myself. It was decided on Friday that there was no management agreement, so there are no inhibitions as to what I can do next.”
“I am in an office, I got the ferry to work at 7.20am this morning and I am with a group of advisers planning the next steps,” Rich says.
Rich says while his focus is on the next phase of his business career, his argument against Morningstar Inc remains the same and he will be pursuing further legal action.
“My contention remains that Morningstar Inc operated in an oppressive manner and in breach of their direction of duties,” Rich says.
He says he will be filing unfair dismissal claims against Morningstar Inc and recourse in terms of other substantiated issues.
At a special directors meeting held on Saturday, Morningstar Inc board of directors voted to dismiss Morningstar Australia’s chief executive officer and publisher Graham Rich.
The meeting was held in the offices of Morningstar Australia and conducted via tele-conference with the Chicago-based directors of Mornignstar Inc.
The decision formalised Morningstar Inc’s wish to dismiss Rich and to refinance Morningstar Australia out of its presently insolvent state.
In a statement released yesterday by Morningstar Inc, it confirmed the company had been disappointed with the financial and operational results in the Australian market and believed a change in leadership would allow it to more effectively deliver products and services to the investment community.
“Graham Rich has made an important contribution to the Australian financial community, which is why we sought to work with him in the first place,” Morningstar Inc chairman and chief executive officer, Joe Mansueto says.
“We are disappointed that our venture did not produce the results we had expected and that a management change was necessary.”
The board appointed Bevin Desmond, currently the head of Morningstar Inc international division and Tao Huang the chief operating officer, as joint managing directors until a permanent replacement can be found.
The director’s meeting followed the hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday, in which Judge Barrett ruled against Rich’s application to allow his company to be placed into voluntary insolvency, and in favour of Morningstar Inc’s solution to quickly develop a refinancing strategy.
Judge Barrett ordered an affidavit to be issued by Morningstar Inc by 2pm Thursday, outlining its actions to address Morningstar Australia’s insolvency. Judge Barrett will review these documents in court on Friday.
Rich was ordered to pay all legal costs.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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