By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY–Appen Chief Executive Armughan Ahmad stepped down from the data-annotation provider, two weeks after the Australian company lost a key contract with Alphabet Inc.’s Google.
Appen on Monday said that Toronto-based Ahmad had decided to pursue new opportunities. It appointed Chief Operating Officer Ryan Kolln as its new CEO and managing director.
“He has a deep understanding of Appen’s history, a strong technical understanding of the AI market, and a proven strategy background,” Appen Chair Richard Freudenstein said.
Appen shares slumped 40% in a single day two weeks ago on its announcement that Google, its second largest customer by revenue, had opted to end its contract by March.
Ahmad only joined Appen in December 2022, replacing long-serving CEO Mark Brayan after Appen had repeatedly downgraded its earnings forecasts. Ahmad abandoned Appen’s revenue targets and the company raised capital, most recently tapping investors for 30 million Australian dollars (US$19.5 million) in November.
Analysts had long worried over Appen’s reliance on Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com for revenue. The ASX-listed company was hit hard when some of those customers cut back on new projects–which utilized Appen’s AI-training capabilities–during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its revenue fell 13% in 2022 and by about 30% in 2023, according to unaudited results released on Jan. 21. Appen will cease all work on all projects covered by the Google contract by March 19. Google accounted for US$82.8 million of Appen’s US$273.0 million revenue in 2023.
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