Hawkers: loses its major hire from Apple after CEO change

Changes in Hawkers. After the departure of its chief executive officer, Francisco Pérez, and the appointment of Nacho Puig as new first-executive, the Spanish sunglasses start-up keeps restructuring its team. One of the most relevant departures in the last weeks was Diego Sebastián, the former Apple executive Hawkers signed in 2017 to lead its retail area.

Sources close to the company have confirmed to Mds that Sebastián left the company at the end of December in the context of a much bigger reorganization of the managing team. These departures are produced at the start of the development of Hawkers’ new strategical plan, led by Nacho Puig.

Hawkers’ major shareholder, Alejandro Betancourt, had decided to bet on a new managing team taking into account the results and the evolution of the company. Out of all the company’s founders, Álex Moreno, Iñaki Soriano, Pablo Sánchez y David Moreno, only the latter appears in the managing team.

Hawkers has rearranged its managing team after the appointment of Nacho Puig as CEO

Diego Sebastián was hired by Hawkers endorsed by its career in Apple, where he occupied the position of senior director of innovation. The executive, which was recruited by the Spanish company as director of retail and innovation, studied at Oxford University and the Imperial College London.

The former Apple executive was in charge of leading the leap to physical stores of the Spanish sunglasses brand, which in the past months carried out an accelerated process of store openings combining different formats. The company expanded its network in Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Hawkers, that currently has a staff consisting of 260 employees as well as offices in Barcelona, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Los Angeles and Elche (Spain), does not facilitate its business numbers. According to the last available accounts on the Spanish Mercantile Register, the company Play Hawkers concluded 2016 with a revenue of 31.43 million euros, and losses of 4.04 million euros. On the other hand, the company Saldum Ventures (the parent company) closed 2015 with a revenue of 794 billion euros, facing 5.36 million euros in 2014.

The majority shareholder of Saldum Ventures, Hawkers’ parent company, is Alejandro Betancourt, who controls over 50% of the capital. In 2018, the businessman reinforced its position in Hawkers’ shareholding with an increase of the capital valued at 20 million euros, entailing the departure of Álex Moreno, founder of Hawkers, and Alejandro Sánchez, another one of the driving forces of the project.