Joel Macdonald (born 10 October 1984) is a businessman and former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er. He is the co-founder and former President of software company, GetSwift. Prior to starting GetSwift, Macdonald was an Australian rules footballer, playing for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

and the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL).

Early life

Macdonald grew up in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia. He graduated from

Brisbane Grammar School Brisbane Grammar School (BGS) is an Independent school, independent, fee charging, non-denominational, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in Spring Hill, Queensland, Spring Hill, an inner suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Austra ...

. He was recruited by the

through the 2003 Rookie Draft as a Queensland Zone player (QLD Zone) from

Mt Gravatt Mount Gravatt is a southern suburb of the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and a prominent hill and lookout within this suburb (). In the , Mount Gravatt had a population of 3,733 people. Geography The suburb is situated in the south-e ...

. He made his debut for the

in Round 10, 2004. After the 2009 AFL season, the Brisbane Lions delisted Macdonald along with 11 other players. In December 2009, Macdonald was drafted to Melbourne with the first selection in the pre-season draft. Macdonald appeared in 125 senior games over 11 years before he retired from football on 16 August 2013.

Business career

Liquorun (2013–2014)

In July 2013, Macdonald founded Liquorun, an on-demand alcohol delivery service with two other

players, James Strauss and Rohan Bail. The service expanded to operate across major Australian cities.

GetSwift (2014–present)

In 2014, Macdonald re-branded the company as GetSwift, pivoting the delivery business in the process. In 2016, GetSwift listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. In June 2017, the company raised a further AUD$24 million and began announcing major partnerships. In November 2017, GetSwift announced a deal with Amazon along with funding, resulting in an 80% increase in their share price and putting Macdonald on Australia's "young rich list". The claim prompted the Australian Securities Exchange to halt trading in GetSwift shares until Amazon affirmed the deal but said GetSwift should not have disclosed it. In December 2017 GetSwift raised a further AUD$100M. In January 2018, as part of an investigation by the

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

, GetSwift and Macdonald were alleged to have misled the market by overstating forecasts to the public and failed to disclose the loss of major contracts. The company was again suspended from trade after inadequately addressing questions by the Australian Securities Exchange. The company appointed

PriceWaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

to investigate their compliance and MacDonald later admitted less than half of the contracts announced had resulted in revenue. The company was at one stage facing three class actions, including a $300M suit lodged in the Federal Court where MacDonald is named as a defendant. The Federal Court of Australia delivered its initial judgement on 23 May that the court had permanently stayed two of the three class actions in favor for GetSwift. The company is contesting the accusation and has separately accused

Squire Patton Boggs Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with over 40 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C.–based Patton Boggs. It is one of the largest law firms in ...

of overstating the claim to A$300M. In February 2018, the

Australian Securities and Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

lodged an investigation into the Company. In April 2018, MacDonald stepped down as CEO, assuming the title of President and remained a director of the company. In February 2019, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission commenced legal action against GetSwift and its principals, MacDonald and Bane Hunter, for misleading claims about contracts with corporate clients for use of their product. In August 2022, GetSwift's former co-founder James Strauss launched legal action against Macdonald for misleading and deceptive conduct, accusing Macdonald of making several misleading statements that prevented Strauss from selling his stake in GetSwift after it listed on the Australian Securities exchange in 2016.

Legal issues

In January 2018 while CEO of GetSwift, Macdonald was accused of misleading the market by overstating revenue forecasts the public and failing to disclose the loss of what GetSwift claimed were not materially significant contracts. Macdonald's company GetSwift requested to enter into a voluntary

Trading Halt A trading halt occurs in the U.S. when a stock exchange stops trading on a specific security for a certain time period. The halt, which can happen a few times a day per security if FINRA deems it, usually lasts for one hour, but is not limited t ...

while they responded to questions by the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...

. This is the second time Macdonald's company has been suspended from trade, after the Australian Securities Exchange issued a trading halt and requested more information after the company announced a deal with Amazon.

Class action lawsuit

In February 2018 MacDonald was named defendant along with his company GetSwift in a A$300M

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lodged in the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

for failing to disclose price sensitive information to the public. Shares in his company GetSwift suffered a 67% loss in the two days after the action was announced. The company is contesting the accusation and has separately accused

of overstating the claim. The Federal Court found GetSwift made misleading statements and breached its continuous disclosure obligations when making statements to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) between February and December 2017. In 2023, Macdonald and his company, GetSwift, were penalized for breaching Australia's continuous disclosure laws, in the amount of $1 million and $15 million, respectively. Macdonald was found guilty on 33 counts of misleading conduct and disqualified from managing corporations for 12 years. The Court also found GetSwift directors Bane Hunter and Macdonald failed to meet their obligations as directors due to their involvement in the announcements made to the ASX, and that they were both knowingly concerned in multiple continuous disclosure breaches made by GetSwift. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said "Listed companies and their directors have obligations to the Australian market to ensure their statements are not misleading. Investors need to have accurate information at their disposal to make informed decisions".

Reception

In 2017, he made his debut on the Financial Review's list of the top 100 richest young Australians, with an estimated net worth of over $100 million but his net-worth fell in March 2018 after his company GetSwift was later found guilty of breaching ASX listing rules 3.1.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Joel 1984 births Living people Brisbane Lions players Melbourne Football Club players Mount Gravatt Football Club players Casey Demons players Aspley Football Club players People educated at Brisbane Grammar School Australian rules footballers from Brisbane 21st-century Australian sportsmen