Joel Macdonald (born 10 October 1984) is a businessman and former Australian Rules footballer.
He is the co-founder and former President of the liquidated software company, GetSwift.
Prior to starting GetSwift, Macdonald was an Australian rules footballer, playing for the Melbourne Football Club and the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Early life and education and football career
Macdonald grew up in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. He graduated from Brisbane Grammar School. He was recruited by the Brisbane Lions through the 2003 Rookie Draft as a Queensland Zone player (QLD Zone) from Mt Gravatt. He made his debut for the Brisbane Lions in Round 10, 2004.
After the 2009 AFL season, the Brisbane Lions delisted Macdonald, along with 11 other players and then on 15 December 2009, Macdonald was drafted to Melbourne with the first selection in the Pre-season Draft.
Macdonald appeared in 125 senior games over 11 years before he announced his retirement from football on 16 August 2013.
Business controversy
In January 2018 while CEO of GetSwift, Macdonald was accused of misleading the market by overstating revenue forecasts the public and failing to disclose the loss of what GetSwift claimed were not materially significant contracts. Macdonald's company GetSwift requested to enter into a voluntary Trading Halt while they responded to questions by the Australian Securities Exchange. This is the second time Macdonald's company has been suspended from trade, after the Australian Securities Exchange issued a trading halt and requested more information after the company announced a deal with Amazon.
Class action lawsuit
In February 2018 MacDonald was named defendant along with his company GetSwift in a A$300M class action lodged in the Federal Court of Australia for failing to disclose price sensitive information to the public. Shares in his company GetSwift suffered a 67% loss in the two days after the action was announced. The company is contesting the accusation and has separately accused Squire Patton Boggs of overstating the claim. The Federal Court found GetSwift made misleading statements and breached its continuous disclosure obligations when making statements to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) between February and December 2017. In 2023, Macdonald and his company, GetSwift, were penalized for breaching Australia's continuous disclosure laws, in the amount of $1 million and $15 million, respectively. Macdonald was found guilty on 33 counts of misleading conduct and disqualified from managing corporations for 12 years.
The Court also found GetSwift directors Bane Hunter and Macdonald failed to meet their obligations as directors due to their involvement in the announcements made to the ASX, and that they were both knowingly concerned in multiple continuous disclosure breaches made by GetSwift.
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said ‘Listed companies and their directors have obligations to the Australian market to ensure their statements are not misleading. Investors need to have accurate information at their disposal to make informed decisions’.
Business career
Liquorun (2013–2014) In July 2013, Macdonald founded Liquorun, an on-demand alcohol delivery service with two other Melbourne players, James Strauss and Rohan Bail. The service expanded to operate across major Australian cities. In a 2015 interview, Macdonald said that their service had been initially questioned by the Victorian Police (for allegedly breaching the Liquor act while running Liquorun) but the matter was later dismissed.
GetSwift (2014–present)
In 2014, Macdonald re-branded the company as GetSwift, shutting down the delivery business in the process.
In 2016, GetSwift listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. In June 2017, the company raised a further AUD$24 million and began announcing major partnerships. In November 2017, GetSwift controversially announced a deal with Amazon and provided no other details resulting in an 80% increase in their share price and putting Macdonald on Australia's "young rich list". The lack of detail prompted the Australian Securities Exchange to issue a suspension from trade while GetSwift responded, trading resumed a few days later. In December 2017 GetSwift raised a further AUD$100M as critics started to question the validity of GetSwift's announcements.