Joel Macdonald

Joel Macdonald (born 10 October 1984) is an Australian footballer and businessman.

For the voice actor, see Joel McDonald (actor).

Joel Macdonald
Born
Australia
Alma materMonash University
OccupationEntrepreneur, Australian Rules footballer

He is the co-founder of the food & beverage distribution company, Liquorun and the co-founder and President of last-mile logistics software company, GetSwift.[1]

Prior to starting Liquorun & GetSwift, Macdonald was an Australian Rules Footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).

In 2017, he made his debut on the Financial Review's list of the top 100 richest young Australians,[2] with an estimated net worth of over $100 million[3] but his net-worth fell in March 2018 after his company GetSwift was later accused of potential breaching ASX listing rules 3.1[4][5]

Early life and education and football career
Joel Macdonald
Personal information
Full name Joel Macdonald
Date of birth (1984-10-10) 10 October 1984
Original team(s) Mt Gravatt (QAFL)
Draft No. 70, 2003 Rookie Draft, Brisbane Lions
No. 1, 2010 Pre-Season Draft, Melbourne
Height / weight 188cm / 88kg
Position(s) Defender
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2004–2009 Brisbane Lions 080 (6)
2010–2013 Melbourne 044 (0)
Total 124 (6)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2013.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Macdonald was born 10 October 1984 in Australia. He grew up in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, where he eventually graduated from Brisbane Grammar School. Macdonald was recruited by the Brisbane Lions through the 2003 Rookie Draft as a Queensland Zone player (QLD Zone) from Mt Gravatt. He was elevated to the senior list at the end of the 2003 season and made his debut for the Brisbane Lions in Round 10, 2004 against Melbourne. Macdonald was an emergency team member for the Brisbane Lions for the 2003 AFL Grand Final.

Macdonald injured his Anterior cruciate ligament during the 2006 home and away season. This injury resulted in him missing the remainder of 2006 and the first half of the 2007 season. Macdonald spent 12 months in intense recovery before making his comeback in 2008.

After the 2009 AFL season the Brisbane Lions delisted Macdonald, along with 11 other players and then on 15 December 2009, Macdonald was drafted to Melbourne with the first selection in the Pre-season Draft.[6] He was used as utility back as he can play variety of positions in the back line, such as half back flank, centre half back, back pocket and fullback. Macdonald appeared in 125 senior games over an 11 year career before he announced his retirement from football on 16 August 2013.[7]

Arrest for public nuisance

Whilst playing for the Brisbane Lions, in late 2008 Macdonald was arrested and charged for being a public nuisance and summoned to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court. [8]

Business controversy

In January 2018 while CEO of GetSwift, Macdonald was accused of misleading the market by overstating revenue forecasts the public and failing to disclose the loss of what GetSwift claimed were not materially significant contracts.[9][10] Macdonald's company GetSwift requested to enter into a voluntary Trading Halt[11] while they responded to questions by the Australian Securities Exchange.[5][12] This is the second time Macdonald's company has been suspended from trade, after the Australian Securities Exchange issued a trading halt and requested more information after the company announced a deal with Amazon.[13]

Class action lawsuit

In February 2018 MacDonald was named defendant along with his company GetSwift in a A$300M class action lodged in the Federal Court of Australia for failing to disclose price sensitive information to the public. Shares in his company GetSwift suffered a 67% loss in the two days after the action was announced.[14] The company is contesting the accusation and has separately accused Squire Patton Boggs of overstating the claim to A$300M.[15]

Business career

Liquorun (2013–2014)

In July 2013, Macdonald founded Liquorun,[16] an on-demand alcohol delivery service with two other Melbourne players, James Strauss and Rohan Bail. Liquorun didn't manage any drivers, vehicles, inventory or warehouses. The service became popular and quickly expanded in July 2014 to operate across major Australian cities.[17] In a 2015 interview, Macdonald said that their service had been initially questioned by the Victorian Police (for allegedly breaching the Liquor act while running Liquorun) but the matter was later dismissed in a local VCGLR commission hearing and the company was in fact deemed to be operating legally and VCLGR granted the appropriate licensing for Liquorun to continue operations.[18] [19]

GetSwift (2014–present)

In 2014 Macdonald pivoted the Liquorun business to focus on the underlying logistics platform and re-branded the company as GetSwift, shutting down the delivery business in the process.[20] The GetSwift business was marketed to enable small businesses to "dispatch like Uber, track like Domino's and set routes like FedEx".[21] The company was one of five companies to secure initial funding from the BlueChilli $10 million venture capital fund and began implementation with a number of US businesses.[22]

In 2016, GetSwift listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.[23] In June 2017 the company raised a further AUD$24 million[24] and began announcing major partnerships.[25] In November 2017 GetSwift controversially announced a deal with Amazon and provided no other details resulting in an 80% increase in their share price and putting Macdonald on Australia's "young rich list".[26] The lack of detail prompted the Australian Securities Exchange to issue a suspension from trade while GetSwift responded, trading resumed a few days later.[13] In December 2017 GetSwift raised a further AUD$100M as critics started to question the validity of GetSwift's announcements.

In January 2018 as part of an investigation conducted by the Australian Financial Review, GetSwift and Macdonald were alleged to have misled the market by overstating forecasts to the public and failing to disclose the loss of major contracts.[9][10] The company was again suspended from trade after they failed to address questions by the Australian Securities Exchange.[4]

The company appointed PriceWaterhouseCoopers to investigate their compliance and MacDonald later admitted less than half of the contracts previously announced had resulted in revenue.[27]

The company was at one stage facing three class actions, including a $300M suit lodged in the Federal Court where MacDonald is named as a defendant.[28][14] The Federal Court of Australia delivered its initial judgement on the 23rd of May that the court had permanently stayed two of the three class actions in favor for GetSwift.[29] The company is contesting the accusation and has separately accused Squire Patton Boggs of overstating the claim to A$300M..[30][31]

On 27 February 2018 the Australian Securities Investment Commission lodged an investigation into the Company.[32][33][34]

On 26 April 2018 MacDonald stepped down as CEO, assuming the title of President and remaining a director of the company.[35][36][37]

In February 2019, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission announced it had commenced legal action against GetSwift and its principals, MacDonald and Hunter, for misleading claims about contracts with corporate clients for use of their product. [38]

References
  1. "Team". GetSwift. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  2. "Financial Review Young Rich 2017". Financial Review. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  3. "Meet the $100m ex-footballer disrupting FedEx". Financial Review. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. "GetSwift suspends share trading on ASX". Financial Review. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. "GetSwift shorts will keep at it". Financial Review. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. "Macdonald officially becomes a Demon". Official AFL Website of the Melbourne Football Club. 15 December 2009. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  7. "Macdonald announces retirement". Official AFL Website of the Melbourne Football Club. 16 August 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  8. "Lion arrested for public nuisance". Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  9. Danckert, Sarah (24 January 2018). "Tech company GetSwift's troubles could torpedo ex AFL player's fortune". The Age. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  10. "GetSwift: too fast for its own good". Financial Review. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  11. "Getswift shares placed in trading halt". Financial Review. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  12. "GetSwift faces questions over major deals". NewsComAu. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  13. "GetSwift suspended on secret Amazon deal". Financial Review. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  14. "Class action moves in quickly on GetSwift". Financial Review. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  15. "Squire Patton Boggs' $300m claim 'misleading' says GetSwift". AFR. 2018.
  16. Heber, Alex (21 January 2015). "The Founder Of The Awesome 'Bring Me Beer' App Came Up With The Idea When His AFL Career Was Ending". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  17. "Liquorun leaps into Sydney market". Startup Smart. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  18. "Liquorun Decision" (PDF). VCGLR.
  19. "Joel MacDonald - CEO and co-founder of Swift | Ideas Hoist". Ideas Hoist. 28 April 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  20. Heber, Alex (2 June 2015). "This Aussie startup has signed a big deal with a US delivery company". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  21. "Getswift could be the start of something big". Livewire Markets. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  22. "Five Australian startups to watch in 2015". Startup Smart. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  23. "Former AFL star Joel MacDonald to raise $5m and list his start-up GetSwift". Financial Review. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  24. "Ex-AFL star Joel McDonald's GetSwift raises $24 million from Thorney, IFM and Regal". Financial Review. 23 June 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  25. "Announcements - ASX - Australian Securities Exchange". Australian Securities Exchange - www.asx.com.au. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  26. "How Amazon doubled Young Rich Lister GetSwift CEO's wealth in two days". Financial Review. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  27. "GetSwift plummets 55pc on reinstatement to ASX". Financial Review. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  28. "GetSwift slapped with class action over allegations of misleading investors". CRN Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  29. "Update on class action proceedings" (PDF). ASX.
  30. "GetSwift hits back". The Australian.
  31. "Squire Patton Boggs' $300m claim 'misleading' says GetSwift". AFR.
  32. "ASIC begins investigation into GetSwift". NewsComAu. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  33. Danckert, Sarah (28 February 2018). "Joel Macdonald's GetSwift under ASIC investigation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  34. "GetSwift under investigation by ASIC, reports massive losses". Business News Australia. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  35. "Corporate Legal Expert Joins GetSwift Board". The Wall Street Journal.
  36. "Bane Hunter replaces Joel MacDonald as GetSwift CEO". Financial Review. 26 April 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  37. Pash, Chris (26 April 2018). "Joel MacDonald has stepped down as CEO of GetSwift". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  38. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/asic-starts-legal-action-against-getswift-execs
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