Seek co-founder and joint CEO, Paul Bassat, resigns

Co-founder and joint CEO of online employment site Seek, Paul Bassat, has resigned 13 years after kicking it off as a self-admitted “cash-strapped startup” in 1997.

Seek has been good to him. He has an estimated personal fortune of more than $120 million.

Bassat will depart at the end of the 2011 financial year, leaving his brother and fellow multi-millionaire, Andrew,in charge.

“I have been incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to spend such a big part of my life at Seek. I continue to be as passionate about Seek and the team here as I have ever been,” Bassat said in a statement.

“However, I have come to the conclusion that it will be hard for me to show the level of enthusiasm for the job itself over the next few years as is required to perform to the best of my ability. As a result, I have made the decision to announce my resignation as joint CEO.”

Seek chairman, Bob Watson, said Bassat was leaving the business in “an excellent position”. It recently achieved an outstanding result in the 2010 financial year, and appears to have good growth prospects.

His brother Andrew – already joint CEO – will take on the role solely. A transition plan has been developed. It is anticipated that Paul Bassat will rejoin the Seek board in 2012 as a non-executive director after an absence of a year.

Prior to co-founding Seek, Paul Bassat was a lawyer for more than half a decade with a leading corporate law firm. He holds law and commerce degrees from the University of Melbourne and is also involved in several community and charitable organisations.

Bassat’s personal fortune was estimated at $98 million in 2006 by Business Review Weekly (BRW) for the magazine’s annual list of Australia’s richest people. His brother was worth about the same.

Seek went public on the Australian Stock Exchange in April 2005.

By 2010, BRW estimated the pair had a joint fortune of at least $248 million.