Danny Bass exits Snap to focus on Berry Hill retreat

News 10 Jun 2022 - 2 min read

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Tags: Danny Bass Snapchat big tech

Danny Bass has resigned from Snap to focus on his 75-acre retreat on the Hawkesbury. The former Mediabrands boss said the decision was purely personal – and is now hoping the rain holds off long enough to relaunch the business he co-founded just as Covid struck.

What you need to know:

Danny Bass has resigned from Snap.
Decision purely personal, he told Mi3.
He will focus on rebuilding 75 acre retreat, hit twice by floods following Covid.

Danny Bass has resigned from Snap. The former Mediabrands CEO and GroupM Investment chief had joined the platform last September to lead its revenue growth ambitions locally after ANZ boss Kathryn Carter was promoted to lead Snap's APAC expansion.

While Snap and broader tech stocks are facing significant headwinds, Bass said his exit was purely a personal decision – he co-owns a 75 acre retreat, “Berry Hill” on the Hawkesbury river north of Sydney, that has been ravaged by floods twice in 12 months following two years of Covid uncertainty that killed off bookings.

The upshot was that he could not fully commit to leading Snap’s growth locally while rebuilding the retreat and its forward programme ahead of the summer event season. Bass officially finishes up with Snap next week before heading to the UK to see family for the first time in three years.

“I’d just like to thank Kathryn and the team for being great people to work with,” Bass told Mi3.

Locally the firm posted $105.9m in ANZ revenues for 2021, of which $74m came from advertising, up from $78m in revenue in 2020 and $56m in ad sales per ASIC filings. The firm made a profit of $18.6m in 2021 via a local headcount of 67 people. Despite challenges globally, with CEO Evan Spiegel issuing an earnings warning in May and asking staff to rein-in spending, the platform locally is still hiring – albeit amid fierce competition from tech rivals – and making ad revenue gains.

It’s not yet clear if the firm will directly replace Bass in the immediate term with Kathryn Carter still Sydney-based and Matt Coote heading up national sales.

Bass spent ten years with News Corp as its digital sales boss – and was part of the team that launched MySpace in Australia, “then we heard this name … Facebook … and we were gone within six months … and the same will happen again”, he told Mi3 prior to joining Snap.

Formerly investment chief at GroupM, Bass was widely tipped as a future CEO before defecting to Mediabrands, leading the firm for four years before resigning late 2019 to focus on Berry Hill. He’s now hoping the rain holds off.

“There’s a quiet couple of months ahead – nobody holds events in winter in Australia,” said Bass. “But from September onwards, things are looking good.”