Buy Hold Sell: 5 stocks with controversial leaders

Buy Hold Sell, by Livewire Markets

Locally, founder-led businesses have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Take the downfall of Australian tech billionaire Richard White of WiseTech Global, for example, or the tax scandal claims circling Mineral Resources' Chris Ellison.

On the global stage, founders can be far more divisive. Elon Musk is now being sued by Philadelphia's district attorney over his US$1 million daily election giveaways in a bid to boost Donald Trump's election campaign. In response, he posted a photo of a daily winner with a cheque on his social media platform X. Meanwhile, scandals seem to continuously orbit Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg - who has been accused of (among other things) being a robot.

In China, Alibaba's founder and leather jacket enthusiast Jack Ma literally disappeared after criticising the Chinese government. Many thought he was dead.

So, is it worth investing in companies with controversial CEOs, founders and leaders? Or should investors be focusing on companies with leaders who have their heads down and are focusing on business growth instead?

To find out, Livewire's Ally Selby was joined by Antipodes' Jacob Mitchell and Magellan's Arvid Streimann.

Note: This episode was recorded on Wednesday 23 October 2024. You can read an edited transcript below.

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/buy-hold-sell-5-stocks-with-controversial-leaders