Finder Australia CEO Chris Ellis is leaving the building

When Finder shed around 60 roles last month – 17% of its workforce – turns out one of them was the comparison site’s Australia CEO, Chris Ellis.

SmartCompany’s Tegan Jones revealed Ellis was among the company’s cost savings, pointing out he’s disappeared from Finder’s leadership page and will leave the business at the end of May, moving into an advisory role.

Global CEO and cofounder Frank Restuccia will take on responsibility for Australia.

“Chris Ellis is transitioning out of the business and will work in an advisory capacity,” a Finder spokesperson said.

“We thank him for his focus on leadership and deepening existing and building new partnerships as well as for everything he’s done for Finder – including his dedication to our crew, partners, and customers over the last four years.”

Finder spent 18 months looking for Australian boss from 2019 until Ellis signed on from ViacomCBS in early 2020.

The latest change in leadership came 14 months after Finder’s crypto evangelist, Fred Schebesta, stepped aside from the co-CEO role to focus on the venture capital side.

It’s been a tough 12 months for the fintech, with the reduction in headcount starting February 2023, when Finder shed around 15% of its workforce of around 500 people, then followed up with another 40 departing in April last year.

Then another 60, including many in the editorial team, were tapped on the shoulder just over four weeks ago.

But there was a major win for the business a fortnight ago when the Federal Court found in Finder’s favour  after corporate cop, ASIC, attempted to sue the fintech over its crypto wallet, Earn, which Finder shut down in late 2022

The business makes money from referral fees when users click on Finder links to products featured on the site, as well as via sponsorship and promotional advertising fees.

School friends Fred Schebesta and Frank Restuccia cofounded Finder in 2006 as a credit card review blog, bootstrapping the business until late 2021 when they took on $30 million from Microsoft-backed Future Now Capital in a deal that valued the business at $680 million.

You can read the SmartCompany story here.