Green Dot: Raging Dumpster Fire

Summary

• Green Dot experienced a tremendous amount of competitive pressures from aggressive venture-backed "neobanks".
• Management told investors their product road map will return the company to growth in 2020.
• The departure of GDOT's CEO, CFO, Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Banking Officer in 2019 leaves the company rudderless and its future highly uncertain.

Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT) looks like a raging dumpster fire to me. Despite falling from around $90 per share in September 2018 to around $24 per share currently, it is hard to see the bottom with so much smoke.

Why Is Everyone Leaving?

I'm going to start by pointing out something nobody else has on SeekingAlpha: the company completely gutted its senior leadership. Although it was reported that this chicken lived for 18 months without a head, I would advise Green Dot's board to "not try this at home".

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On 12/18/2019, GDOT announced that the company's Founder and CEO, Steve Streit, and its CFO, Mark Shifke both decided to retire, effective 12/31/2019. The CEO and CFO roles are filled on an interim basis as the company searches for a permanent replacements. In the press release, Mr. Streit made the following remark:

October marked Green Dot's 20th anniversary and the benchmark for when I promised myself and my family that I would retire from my role as Green Dot's CEO.

In addition, I found this 12/10/2019 8-K disclosing that "Brett Narlinger, its Chief Revenue Officer, is leaving the Company to pursue other interests, effective December 31, 2019."

Two Theories: Bucket List or Dumpster Fire?

I see two plausible theories for the surprise departures. The first theory is that since Mr. Streit's retirement was planned, and since Mr. Shifke and Mr. Narlinger are leaving the company on the same day as Mr. Streit, these executives could be leaving GDOT in order to pursue their bucket list (please refer to the movie The Bucket List for background information on this theory).

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However, GDOT's 4/24/2019 8-K disclosing that its Chief Banking Officer resigned effective 6/30/2019 cast doubt on the bucket list theory. If GDOT's CEO, CFO and Chief Revenue Officers resigned to pursue

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.