Myer has demonstrated just how committed it is to its new cost cutting drive by persuading its top two executives – CEO Bernie Brookes and chief number cruncher Mark Ashby – to save it some cash by resigning on the same weekend.
This meant the department store could avoid doubling up press releases, and news conferences, and correct any impression that the departures have anything to do with its March 19 interim results announcement.
"There are no hidden agendas," said Myer chairman Paul McClintock. He said the company understands its disclosure obligations.
And to be fair, Ashby is leaving for a new job overseas.
Investors reacted to the suggestion that they should "keep calm and carry" on by sending the shares south by double digit levels.
So the market obviously is not worried about any surprise announcements at the interim results by the new CEO, Myer's current supply chain boss Richard Umbers.
At least they can rest assured the new boss is a bargain.
Myer drew some flak when Bernie's base pay was lifted last year to $2 million. With incentives, his total remuneration could have hit $5.6 million.
Umbers tips the scales at a bargain $1.2 million and will have trouble clearing the $2 million even if he meets the performance hurdles on his incentives.
Over Brooked
And to think it was barely a year ago that McClintock asked Brookes to reconsider his retirement plans and stay as the boss.
"In order to provide leadership clarity at Myer, the board has taken the view that ceasing the CEO search at this preliminary phase and reconfirming Bernie is in the best interests of Myer and its shareholders," was his explanation last February.
And as recently as Myer's October annual report the chairman was saying: "The board considers that Bernie's passion for Myer and his strong leadership will ensure the business is well placed to achieve its potential."
The company certainly has a lot of potential still on the table based on its current $1.65 share price.
Just imagine what Brookes' 10 million Myer shares would be worth if he managed to keep shares somewhere near the $4.10 investors paid in the 2009 IPO.
Forgotten flick
Out of the stragglers that were suspended from trading on Monday for failing to file their financial accounts, Ceramic Fuel Cells probably had the best excuse.
The company was placed into administration on Sunday evening after it failed to secure further funding. That would distract you from getting the accounts out on a timely basis.
Narrowly avoiding ASX shaming was video streamer Quickflix, which took its accumulated losses since listing more than a decade ago to $60 million, following a $8.6 million loss for the December half.
But the real insult came just before Quickflix released its results.
The competition watchdog gave the green light to Seven West Media buying half of Foxtel's streaming service, Presto.
"Competition and consumer choice in paid television services is increasing with the launch of services like Presto, Stan, and Netflix," said ACCC Chairman Rod Sims who obviously isn't a Netflix customer, sorry CBD meant Quickflix.
Learning plea
The corporate pup's patchy record on ABC Learning got a bit of a shine with the news on Monday it had secured a guilty plea from one of the key players involved when it collapsed in 2006.
The former chief financial officer, James Black, pleaded guilty to "making available, authorising or permitting the making available of false or misleading information relating to the affairs of ABC that he knew to be false or misleading in material particulars."
He faces five years jail and/or a fine of $22,000 when the matter returns to court on 31 March for sentencing.
ASIC dropped charges against ABC founder Eddie Groves in 2012.
Mega slap
Mega, the cloud storage provider founded by Kiwi cyber renegade Kim Dotcom, has come up against some new hurdles as it attempts a backdoor listing on the New Zealand stock exchange this year.
Mega has reported that PayPal is no longer processing its customer's payments amid claims it is not a legit service.
Mega said a US report "incorrectly claims Mega's business to not be a legitimate cloud storage service" and this lead to pressure being applied to PayPal to cease working with Mega.
"PayPal has apologised for this situation and confirmed that Mega management are upstanding and acting in good faith," said Mega on behalf of the US payments giant.
"PayPal acknowledged that the business is legitimate, but advised that a key concern was that Mega has a unique model with its end-to-end encryption which leads to 'unknowability of what is on the platform'," said Mega.
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