The Sunday Times (the British one) just published an article on their Business Person of the Year, Kevin Rountree, CEO of Games Workshop, publisher of the Warhammer Fantasy, Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40K line of games.
He took over in 2015, and Games Workshop's results have been on the up-and-up. Sales have quadrupled to GBP 525 million, share price from GBP 5 to around GBP 131. At the end of 2024, the stock was admitted to the FTSE 100 index.
At the current price, the market cap of the company is around GBP 4.358 billion. You might be surprised to learn that it is comparable to, or is bigger than these more well known British companies such as Burberry (GBP 3.473 billion) or Dr Martens (GBP 714 million).
He isn't the first person you think of, when you think of a successful FTSE 100 company. People tend to think of the creatives at the company first and the CEO doesn't really come into the picture, or anyone's mind for that matter.
Is not a creative
He joined Games Workshop as an accountant in 1998. He was promoted to various roles in finance, prior to becoming CEO. He had stints running the operations and product divisions as well.
As far as I can tell, he has had no hand in any of the creative direction that the franchises has evolved into, since he took over. No one even knows if he plays Warhammer.
Avoids the limelight
The article begins with an anecdote of an event hosted at the company HQ in Nottingham for investors in the company. An American investor goes up to him for a picture and he demurs.
This isn't new for those who pay attention to the company. There are no confirmed pictures of the man. He doesn't have any social media account that we know of. The most you hear from him is via the CEO message in the Annual Report.
In this he is a stark contrast to the always in the news Elon Musk, or even executives from companies such as Nintendo.
Shuntaro Furukawa had a similar path at Nintendo. He worked as an accountant, rotating into other corporate and marketing roles before becoming CEO. Even then, he has a social media presence and makes the occasional announcement, such as this one via their Investor Relation's Twitter account.
The article did leave us with some tidbits, such as the fact that he lives in five-bedroom farmhouse in Derbyshire, which occupies two acres of land. He has a daughter, 22, and a son, 17, with his wife, Tanya.
We can get some clues from the article about his impact on the company. Jim Butler, a long-time former employee, says he brings energy and commercial nous to the firm. On Glassdoor, he has an 88% approval rating as CEO.
I guess in the end, he is letting the company's results speak for him and they sing his praises.
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