We turn now to the fortune of Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver.
While the code may be struggling – outspent by AFL and NRL and looking at cutting a team from the competition next year – he certainly isn't.
We last caught up with Pulver this time last year, when his super fund had banked just under $1 million from selling 441,261 shares in ASX-listed Appen for $2.20. Appen hit an all-time record of $4.36 on Monday and held not too far off that peak for the rest of the week. Pulver hasn't sold any shares since last September, and he's still sitting on a tidy pile.
And that's not counting the money from all the shares he's sold out of since the speech and voice recognition software proprietor first floated in January 2015. At the time, Pulver was the company's third-largest shareholder, having previously been its CEO and remaining a director at the time of the float (he's still on the board). He had 8.8 million shares subject to various escrow arrangements – at the floating price of 63¢ they were worth around $5.5 million.
He's since been selling down, beginning in April 2015 until September last year, netting at least $6.8 million all up in cold hard cash. And the 2.3 million shares he has left were worth $9.8 million on Friday. Which isn't too shabby at all.
Hell, he could probably fund embattled union team the Western Force himself if he wanted to – they're looking for a benefactor.
