Redbubble Hires Ex-Seek Exec as CEO

The interim CEO and Founder of Redbubble, Martin Hosking, said Ilczynski’s experience with SEEK is the perfect fit for the user-created marketplace.

“Marketplaces have two critical inflection points. The first is when you start getting both sides of the marketplace working. Getting through that first stage is where most potential marketplaces fail. We’ve got through that already,” Hosking told AFR.

“The second point is just as important in many ways. It’s where it goes from the early adopters to mainstream penetration and the reality is that SEEK has done that already,” he said.

Redbubble’s sales have skyrocketed during the peak of the pandemic, more than doubling its revenue to $147.5 million in the Q1 of Fy21.

Hosking stepped down from his role as CEO in 2018, but returned in 2019 after the former CEO, Barry Newstead, was ousted earlier this year. Newstead was removed from his role after a turbulent few months.

“Redbubble has undertaken a review of strategy and its operation,” explained Richard Cawsey, Redbubble Chairman, in a statement to the ASX. “Following these extensive deliberations, the non-executive directors have decided that a change in leadership is necessary.”

Michael Ilczynski begins his new role on January 4, and Martin Hosking will work on the handover with the company until January 27.

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