Former CEO Wants Seat on Board: 2

The United Kingdom based company, Cryptologic, who provides software for some of the top online casinos is having having a little bit of trouble with their former Chief Executive Officer. As we covered in the last section of this article, Javaid Aziz was the online casino software provider’s Chief Executive Officer for about 11 months before stepping down from his position to spend more time with his family. The issue with Aziz and Cryptologic stems from the fact that he wants a seat on the company’s board. According to Cryptologic, he did not just want a seat on the board. He wanted that the Cryptologic management cut staff from the company’s workforce and the management team. Aziz thinks that the company must do this in order to survive in the current global economic climate.

Aziz did not stop there. He asked the board to simplify departments such as the legal, management structure and tax teams. He suggested that they close the online casino software provider’s offices in Ireland along with immediately closing any investment not currently considered a success, including many online casinos. These ideas could have been seen as good ideas from a former head of the company. However, the members of the Cryptologic did not take kindly to the suggestions of their former leader. Crysptologic said that they are rejecting any of his new suggestions because they are still dealing with some of his former concerns. The company had already cut costs up to $15 million and restructured its online casinos and poker divisions. The people who are now running Cryptologic want to give the former CEO’s policies enough time to become effective.

The online casino software provider released a statement on their website regarding their business with Aziz. The Cryptologic website said: "The board of directors of CryptoLogic believes that many of the issues raised by Mr Aziz are currently being addressed by CryptoLogic's executive management under Brian Hadfield, President and CEO. Since Mr Hadfield replaced Mr Aziz as CEO in late February 2008, CryptoLogic has acted to implement a new strategy designed to respond to the industry's ever-changing market dynamics and the challenging macro-economic environment." They also added: "After careful consideration, the board of directors also has unanimously concluded that providing Mr Aziz with nominees to the board is not in the best interests of CryptoLogic or its shareholders and would cause unwanted disruption at a crucial phase in CryptoLogic's development.” The rest will be played out within the next couple of months.