8x8 Terminates CEO, Promotes CFO as Interim Replacement

Unified communications provider 8×8 announced Tuesday that Dave Sipes is no longer its chief executive. Samuel C. Wilson, who most recently held the position of chief financial officer, is succeeding Sipes as interim CEO.

Kevin Kraus, who was senior vice president of finance at 8×8, has been appointed to interim chief financial officer.

8×8 officials responded to a Channel Futures request for comment regarding these changes. However, they did not elaborate about why Sipes was terminated.

8×8’s Jaswinder Pal Singh

Jaswinder Pal Singh is chairman of the 8×8 board.

“We appreciate Dave’s leadership and contributions to the company during his tenure,” Singh said. “8×8 remains committed to delivering long-term value to our stockholders. We have confidence in Sam’s leadership and will work closely with him and the management team to ensure that this change is seamless for our customers, partners, employees and stockholders.”

8×8 has struggled financially, particularly since June 2021. MarketWatch reports that the company’s stock has plunged about 85% during Sipes’ term and that “the stock, which was still inactive in premarket trading, has bounced 37.7% since closing at an 11-year low of $3.02 on Oct. 10, but has still shed 21.1% over the past three months.”

In a blog announcing his first day on the job, Wilson took a more positive tone about the company’s financial circumstances.

8×8’s Samuel Wilson

“I say without hesitation that this is an incredibly innovative, agile and financially strong organization,” he said. “And it will be a privilege to lead 8×8, whose people and mission have inspired me over the past five years.”

Sipes’ Background

Sipes came to 8×8 nearly two years ago from RingCentral, having served as that company’s COO.

At RingCentral, Sipes led go-to-market, product and engineering. He also was instrumental in the company’s 12-year growth trajectory from $10 million to more than $1 billion in revenue. He worked at RingCentral for more than a decade.

Sipes told Channel Futures in 2020 that he was looking forward to leading 8×8.

8×8’s Dave Sipes

“It’s one of the select SaaS businesses to reach [$500 million] in revenue with a strong and expanding customer base,” he said. “The cloud and work-from-home are transforming business communications for every employee and customer touchpoint, and have become a critical focal point for building competitive advantage for businesses today.”