Pinetree Capital Ltd. CEO Sheldon Inwentash Is Out https://www.midasletter.com/2015/01/inwentash-pinetree-capital-default-induced-board-shakeout/
The news comes as a bit of a shock to those not intimately familiar with the operation of the company. Shares in Pinetree were down to a 52-week low of $0.09 after years of weak resource markets and excessive payouts to Inwentash caused stakeholders to question management’s integrity, and planted the seed of the revolt resulting in today’s termination of Inwentash.
In 2011, Inwentash paid himself a $1 million salary and a $32 million bonus. The self-directed largesse was jaw-dropping at the time, as Pinetree in 2011 lost 66% of its value, dropping from $4.17 a share in January 2011 to $1.41 at the end of December 2011. In 2007, the stock touched a high of $16.15 a share.
While there is no doubt that the collapse of natural resource investing in Canada since 2011 played a major part in Pinetree’s current predicament, it is hard to overlook the behaviour of a CEO who routinely put his interests above those of his investors once trouble began.