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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n WiseTech founder Richard White has given up the chairmanship of the logistics software company he built, handing the role to independent director Raelene Murphy, as a plummeting share price and allegations about his personal life<\/a> pile pressure on the billionaire.<\/p>\n The company told the ASX on Tuesday that Murphy, who joined the board in January and became lead independent director in May, would take over as independent chair with immediate effect. White will remain on the board as an executive director and keep his role as chief innovation officer.<\/p>\n \u201cRecent personal media attention is creating an unnecessary distraction from the strength of WiseTech\u2019s business,\u201d White said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I have stated previously, I strenuously and unequivocally deny the recent allegations in the media. Further, I am conscious that personal attacks on me in the media that are unconnected to the performance of the company nevertheless have the potential to encourage short selling activity.\u201d<\/p>\n As first revealed by this masthead, White is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police\u2019s human exploitation taskforce<\/a> over claims he coerced a former WiseTech cleaner into a sexual relationship and provided false information to secure her a visa. He is separately under investigation by the corporate regulator over more than $200 million in share sales<\/a>, and WiseTech stock has lost about two-thirds of its value in a year.<\/p>\n Related Article WiseTech shares jumped 8.9 per cent to $38.50 by midday, adding about $1.2 billion to the company\u2019s market value.<\/p>\n The company was contacted for further comment.<\/p>\n Murphy, who was appointed lead independent director in May, said her experience of working with White was \u201ctotally at odds with media reports\u201d and described him as a hardworking and committed founder. She said long-term succession planning was now a board priority while the company retained White\u2019s experience as chief innovation officer.<\/p>\n The AFP taskforce launched its investigation this year after a complaint from Kathy Phelan, former chief executive of Kyckr, an anti-money laundering compliance firm controlled by White\u2019s private company, RealWise. Phelan alleges White asked her for a company letterhead in December 2023, saying he needed it for tax purposes, then used it to create documentation sponsoring the woman for a visa in a role that did not exist. White has denied the allegations. The woman, who settled an earlier claim against White without any admissions, declined to comment, as did Phelan. This masthead is not suggesting White is guilty of human exploitation or providing false visa documents.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is separately investigating share trades worth more than $200 million that White made between late December 2024 and February 2025, during a company blackout period. White has said he was acting as a consultant at the time and had obtained legal advice.<\/p>\n RBC Capital Markets, which rates WiseTech \u201coutperform\u201d with a $70 price target, called Murphy\u2019s appointment another step towards addressing governance concerns. But its analysts said the market would want ongoing evidence that the refreshed board, chief executive and chief innovation officer were operating independently before any meaningful re-rating of the shares. Adding more independent directors would take the board to five of seven, clearing the two-thirds threshold favoured by proxy advisers.<\/p>\n The company said a board review into media allegations about White, begun in late 2024 and completed last year, had been disclosed to the market in three separate announcements. White co-founded WiseTech in 1994 and returned as executive chairman in February last year after four directors quit the board over his continued involvement.<\/p>\n WiseTech, which serves about 22,000 logistics firms in193 countries and last year bought US rival e2open for $US3.2 billion, is led by chief executive Zubin Appoo. In March, it announced plans to cut about 2000 jobs,<\/a> a third of its workforce, saying artificial intelligence could take over software development tasks.<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3d5579beb76bed33ddf9fdb329fd840afb560d3c.jpeg\")
Richard White is stepping down as chairman of WiseTech but staying on the board.Oscar Colman<\/p>\n![\"Richard](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9767b571fcc4689af2051dfdd46f8208e774f862.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765876452_771_b3a5e27b67bafef557dc9d266c430580bca7aae2.png\")
David Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-783854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}