I don't buy the conspiracy theory. It simply looks like the...

I don't buy the conspiracy theory. It simply looks like the former directors are keen to keep their snouts in the money trough, and good old fashioned incompetence.

I find it unbelievable that KC would complain about bullying and corporate culture when she was the founder/CEO/longest tenure company officer, and responsible for setting....corporate culture. It would be like Pat Cummins or Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield coming out and saying a similar thing about their teams. Totally laughable.

I guess it's 2023 where everyone is a victim and not responsible for their actions; even multi millionaires. Just ask Harry and Meghan, I suppose.

I lived in mainland China for 10 years. Anyone who has dealt with business culture there knows how opaque it is and how different ethics/values are to the West. It's a minefield. Doing business there is so hard. If someone can rip you off, or not act in your best interests to benefit themselves, they probably will. And there's little you can do about it. Much depends on whom you know and what favours they owe you.

It has been Bubs' lack of ability to get costs under control that's concerned me the most and why l haven't bought despite following this forum for 3 years

The more they sell, the more they lose. The cigars, clothing and personal flights are disgusting. The nerve of these people wanting to come back to Bubs and wanting to "save it" is indescribable. Bubs needs to be saved from them. They had years in which to make it profitable. What's coming to light is a corporate culture of self-interest, ego, and excess (at shareholders' expense). Good, honest retail investors have effectively funded the lifestyle of the departed board members through cap raises.

Honourable, good founders and CEOs are notoriously frugal. They'd buy clothes at Zara or Uniqlo for a Zoom call, try to avoid paying for parking, fly economy, etc. They can't help it -- it's almost in their DNA. The behaviour described is appalling. Warren Buffett has lived in the same house since 1958. Imagine him or his executives selling 20% of their shares to buy a bigger house. KC seems so out of touch.

On the other hand, buying a million shares and taking your director's fees as stock is entirely honourable.

This next comment probably seems uninformed (which it is). What if Bubs abandoned the overseas sales completely and focused entirely on Australia and New Zealand?

No more fighting for SAMR. No issues about which distribution plans to follow or not getting paid. Abandon China and the US. Sell through the A/NZ supermarkets, Baby Bunting and pharmacies. Sack the hangers on, marketing consultants, brand specialists, Chinese market experts. Stop trying to complete in a difficult market with thin margins where they keep losing money and have no real idea about the local day-to-day issues. I doubt the board members speak Chinese. They aren't in China. They're trying to manage things from Sydney and use/trust distributors.

Spend the next 3-5 years nailing down costs and aim at #1 position here. Be like, say, Bega dairy products and sell though local supermarkets. Is China really that lucrative for baby formula now? We just assume it is without ever questioning if it's worth the hassle. Yes, it's a huge market.

However, pre-covid and daigou sales aside, who has made any money from selling formula to China? A2M seem to be struggling. I wonder if the real issue is trying to sell overseas into the supposed rivers of gold in the PRC without a strong balance sheet from local sales first. Then, expecting shareholders to constantly prop up each new experimental plan.

I am probably totally wrong. What would Bubs look like as a slimmer down company only focusing on the local market? Would it be profitable? And if it's not profitable here first, surely it's even harder to be profitable abroad.