Friday, an announcement on the Malta Stock Exchange informed that GO’s Chief Commercial Officer Keith Fearne has resigned with immediate effect.
The news came as a surprise to many, as Fearne’s longstanding career at the telecoms company – which started 10 years ago as Maltanet’s CEO, was abruptly announced before rumours could start spreading in the corridors of GO headquarters.
The announcement however, sparked a series of internal talk and theories on why he left and where he’s going. Some have gone as far as starting ridiculous whispering campaigns about him leaving to join MLP’s RedTouch Fone.
Others said Fearne clashed with GO Chairman Sonny Portelli over the decision to censor news portal www.di-ve.com from any political coverage throughout the 2008 general election campaign. This newspaper had asked Fearne for comments on this issue last February, but he had declined to reply.
But when contacted yesterday, Fearne excluded any such possibility as one of his motives to resign.
Describing his career at GO as a “tremendous ride” which he “enjoyed thoroughly”, Fearne said that after 10 years he felt it was now time for him to move on.
Recently, GO rivals Melita placed an advert on UK leading business newspaper Financial Times to recruit a Commercial Manager with experience in a merger setup. Many have discounted the possibility of Fearne applying for this post, as it would in itself constitute a demotion. Meanwhile, Melita’s CEO post is still vacant, as is Enemalta’s. Another possibility mentioned as a possible position for Fearne was that of CEO of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, since it has been rumoured that its incumbent CEO Mario Galea has resigned.
Amid such talk, Fearne dismissed these “conspiracy theories” as “totally untrue”.
Sources said Fearne has left without an actual post lined up, and these weren’t far off.
“It has always been my plan to set up my own business at some point, and I believe I now have enough experience under my belt to go for it,” he said. “I have had many people asking me if I left for a position with GO’s competition and whether I was joining Bay Mobile or Redtouch, amongst a hundred other conspiracy theories, but I can assure that this is all totally untrue. GO is a very strong company with a great team of people, and I have no doubt that they will continue to lead the local telecom market in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues for their support and EIT (GO’s shareholders from Dubai) for the opportunities they have given me, and wish them all the best of luck.”
