8×8 CEO Dave Sipes leaves

After less than two years in the position
Praise for Sipes
Sam Wilson taking over temporarily
Search for a successor

(exechange) — Campbell, California, November 30, 2022 — Dave Sipes, chief executive of 8×8, leaves. As announced by 8×8 Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, David (Dave) Sipes, chief executive officer, leaves the provider of Voice over IP products, after less than two years in the role, effective immediately.

The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.2 years. Around 12% of CEOs left their posts within two years. This is according to data collected by research firm exechange.

exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.

8×8 will undertake a search for a successor.

Dave Sipes’s duties as CEO will be taken over temporarily by Samuel C. (Sam) Wilson, most recently Chief Financial Officer at 8×8 Inc., as interim Chief Executive Officer.

Dave Sipes’s move coincides with a management shake-up also involving the position of Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary.

“Delivering long-term value to our stockholders”

8×8 did not give an explicit reason for Dave Sipes’s departure from the CEO post. Jaswinder Pal Singh, Chairman of the Board, said: “8×8 remains committed to delivering long-term value to our stockholders.”

The three most common reasons given for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (24.6% of cases), reference to a planned succession (17.4%) and the statement that now was the right time for a change (9%), according to exechange data. Other reasons given for CEO departures included pursuit of other opportunities (6.2% of cases), personal reasons (3.4%) and conduct issues (2.5%). Rather rarely mentioned departure reasons are health problems (2.2% of cases), career change (2.2%), time with family (0.9%), disagreement (0.6%) and death (0.6%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 30.2% of cases, no reason was given.

Precise information regarding Dave Sipes’s future plans was not immediately available.

“Terminated”

8×8 said: “Mr. Wilson succeeds Dave Sipes, whose employment relationship with the Company as chief executive officer has been terminated effective as of November 30, 2022.”

8×8 further said: “On November 30, 2022, 8×8, Inc. (“8×8” or the “Company”) announced that the Company has terminated its employment relationship with David Sipes, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and a member of the Company’s board of directors (the “Board”) effective as of 12:01 a.m. Pacific Time on November 30, 2022 (the “Effective Time”).”

Share price decline since November 2021

The announcement follows a decline in 8×8 Inc.’s share price of 82% since November 2021.

In the position of CEO since 2020

Dave Sipes became CEO of the Company in 2020.

Sipes has served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Company’s Board since December 2020.

He has served on the board of directors of PandaDoc Inc., a document automation software company, since May 2020.

From June 2008 to June 2020, he served in a number of senior leadership roles, including chief operating officer for five years at RingCentral, Inc., where he was responsible for Go-to-Market, product, and engineering.

Sipes received a B.S. in Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Northwestern University.

No statement by Dave Sipes

In the news release announcing his departure as CEO of 8×8 Inc., Dave Sipes received praise.

A statement by Dave Sipes is not included in the official departure announcement.

Over the past 12 months, 26% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 111 words. The longest statement was 382 words, and the shortest statement was 23 words. Statistically, management changes are associated with high pressure when outgoing CEOs provide conspicuously short or no explanations of their move, according to exechange data.

31% of CEOs are forced out or fired

When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position.

Of the 322 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (November 30, 2021, to November 29, 2022), the average Push-out Score was 5.5, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When time with family, performance issues or personal reasons were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.

Around 31% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.

In other words, in the past 12 months, three in 10 departing CEOs were forced out, fired or stepped down under extreme pressure.

Pressure in the information technology sector substantially above average

Some industries are under generally higher pressure than others, and CEOs are feeling the strain. In the past 12 months, the communication, consumer staples and health care sectors showed the highest average Push-out Scores. By contrast, pressure on CEOs was lowest in the real estate, industrials and financials sectors, as measured by average Push-out Scores.

In the information technology sector, which includes 8×8 Inc., the average Push-out Score over the past 12 months was 6.1, which is substantially above the average.

In the information technology sector, 17 exiting CEOs received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher over the past 12 months, indicating that they were forced out or stepped down under extreme pressure.

exechange reached out to 8×8 and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.

Push-out Score for Dave Sipes’s move determined

The Push-out Score regarding Dave Sipes’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.