Dive Brief:
- Bark’s co-founder and executive chairman, Matt Meeker, will become the company’s CEO effective immediately, the company announced Monday.
- Manish Joneja, who stepped down from the role “in order to remain closer to his family in Seattle,” according to a company press release. He will serve as an adviser to Bark through April.
- Bark — which sells pet products ranging from toys to treats — on Monday also announced preliminary third quarter revenue of $140 million, an increase of 33.1% from last year, and up from previously announced revenue guidance of $137 million to $139 million.
Dive Insight:
Just 16 months after stepping down from the CEO role, Meeker is back at the helm.
Joneja, who took over the chief executive spot from Meeker in September 2020, joined Bark from Amazon where he focused on global exports, expansion and operations.
“I have had the honor of partnering with BARK’s visionary founders, the Board and many talented team members,” Joneja said. “We have built an incredible team that strongly positions BARK to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities ahead.”
Bark, known for its BarkBox and Super Chewer subscription services, has had a busy couple of years. The company in December 2020 agreed to be acquired by Northern Star Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, in order to go public. The merger was approved this past June and Bark began trading publicly.
The company benefited at the onset of the pandemic as consumers turned to their pets, and the number of pet-owning households grew. In its latest quarter, Bark reported revenue grew 39.1% year over year to $120.2 million, driven by a 41.7% increase in its DTC business and a 20.8% increase in its wholesale business. The company added 271,000 active subscriptions, pushing its total to 2.1 million at the end of the second quarter.
Its sales momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Along with preliminary third quarter revenue coming in ahead of expectations, Bark said through the first three quarters of this fiscal year, its top-line sales have increased 41.8% year over year to $377.8 million.
“I believe that the next few years will be transformative for BARK as we leverage our scale and brand to grow our footprint in areas like food and health,” Meeker said in a statement.
But the company has also experienced leadership turnover, further exacerbated by Monday’s announcement. In September, Bark announced Chief Financial Officer John Toth would step down from his role “to spend more time with his family on the West Coast.” And in October, the company announced it brought on Anil Nair, previously Amazon’s director of global logistics, to serve as its chief supply chain officer.
