CEO churn plagues Mighty Ape as ecommerce retailer gets set to report
Wednesday, 18 February 2026
Mighty Ape has its fourth chief executive in three years, with a former staff member saying there was widespread confusion over the direction of the company.
“There's quite an incompatibility between what the Australian division of the company wants and expects, versus the New Zealand division,” said the source, speaking to The Post on the condition of anonymity.
The online retailer of electronics, toys, books and homewares, saw its last chief executive, Robert McEwan, finish up with the company in December. He joined in the February and was in the role for 10 months.
Before that, Mighty Ape was led by Daniel Balasoglou. He began in the role in April 2024 and finished up in February 2025, after 10 months.
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Former Mighty Ape head of sales and marketing Gracie MacKinlay was chief executive prior to Balasoglou, between June 2022 and April 2024, the first CEO for the company after founder Simon Barton.
With sales already impacted, the last thing the company needed was yet another change in leadership, the source told The Post.
Mighty Ape made a $2.8 million loss in the 2025 financial year, with sales down 15% to $133.8m.
Parent company Kogan.com, Australia’s leading ecommerce retailer, made an after-tax loss of A$39.5m despite sales rising 15% to A$930.9m. Its loss was attributed to impairments and challenges related to Mighty Ape.
The source close to Mighty Ape told The Post sales remained challenging in the current financial year, the result of a combination of squeezed household budgets, and the “disconnect” between the Auckland-based ecommerce retailer and its Melbourne owner.
“A lot of the Mighty Ape reputation was built on product availability and good customer experience. But, there seems to have been a push for a while now to hold less stock.”
A change in the website re-platforming also saw sales fall, the source said.
“There's been a real push towards different product ranges, imported-type products and less focus on the known brands, as well as a marketplace model (allowing the business to list and sell stock it does not have in stock) and holding less stock.”
The source said customers preferred stock to be on hand “which is a very different one from what Kogan does in Australia”.
“It's a case of the people that were there operating from that mindset, and the Australian arm has come in and says ‘Actually we’re going to do it this way’.”
The Post wanted to put these concerns to Kogan.com, but the company is in a black out period ahead of releasing its financial earnings on Monday and was not able to comment on the company’s strategy or direction.
However, according the company’s local accounts lodged with the Companies’ Register, Mighty’s Ape stock holding did drop dramatically in the 2025 year, with its on-hand inventory sitting at $22.4m in 2025, compared with $30.1m a year earlier.
In its 2025 annual report, Kogan said its priority for 2026 was “finalising the turnaround” of Mighty Ape: “As we continue to remedy Mighty Ape’s performance, we expect group adjusted EBITDA margins to be in the range of 6-9% fo FY26, progressively improving to the top of that range in the second half as the Mighty Ape recovery is completed.”
Mighty Ape launched its marketplace offering - selling extended stock it does not have immediately on hand - in 2025, following the transition of the website platform, and it broadening its product range.
“Kogan have been very successful in Australia, doing what they're doing, but it's a very different model to what Mighty Ape was. It's been quite a fast change from what it was, to what it is now, and I think that with that change, and when you include the website, not just the product mix, has been quite a tough sell on the people that had been there for quite some time.”