Steve Oliver has announced his exit from musicMagpie.
Oliver famously co-founded the business with Walter Gleeson from his Stockport garage in 2007 and will leave his role as managing director in September.
After first revealing his intention at the company’s annual conference, he took to LinkedIn to reveal his near-20-year journey with the company will come to an end on September 30.
Originally set up as the ‘lazy man’s eBay’, musicMagpie allowed people to trade in their CDs, DVDs and games for cash.
With developments in technology, it pivoted towards phones and gadgets and floated on the London Stock Exchange’s junior AIM market in April 2021 with a share price of 193p.
AO buys musicMagpie: ‘Life was pretty tough as a standalone PLC’
That represented a market capitalisation of £208m. However, musicMagpie’s share price dropped to almost 5p in 2024 before fellow London-listed company AO stepped in with an offer of 9.07p in cash per share, valuing the business at just under £10m.
Just like his hero, former Man City manager Pep Guardiola, he said it felt like the right time to leave.
Oliver said: “My greatest single pride at Magpie has always been the people …. more so than our cumulative £2bn of gross income in our history so far, more so than the little business that started in my garage in Hazel Grove becoming the biggest seller in the world in the history of eBay and Amazon and more so than paying out well over £1/2bn pounds in tax-free cash to our customers, it is absolutely our people that I am most proud of.
“We have employed over 6,500 different people at Magpie in our existence (I was number 266 as I didn’t pay myself for two years!) but it’s the quality of the people, not the quantity, that gives me such intense pride.
AO buys musicMagpie: ‘Life was pretty tough as a standalone PLC’
“I had a wonderful note from a close friend and colleague last week who was hugely generous in thanking me for everything I had helped them achieve in their career, but I explained to them that whilst I was extremely grateful for their words, all I have ever tried to do is provide a platform for our extraordinary people to develop, flourish and prosper into the fantastic team of people that I have been blessed to work with at Magpie.
“Many of those people aren’t with the business anymore, and indeed even more sadly some of them aren’t with us at all, but all of whom have contributed to the rollercoaster, blockbuster story of musicMagpie that yes… one day…and maybe now I will have the chance to do so…. I shall write a book about.”
Oliver said Bolton-based electronics retailer AO had proved to be the ‘best long-term home’ for musicMagpie.
Torrid time on public market
He said: “It is two years ago almost to the day that I first met with John Roberts and Mark Higgins at AO to first discuss the possibility of musicMagpie becoming part of the AO family after we’d had a pretty torrid time on the public market.
“Well, I can now say with absolute conviction that AO acquiring musicMagpie has proved to be the best long-term home I could have ever dreamt of for musicMagpie.
“JR (John Roberts), Mark, and the AO team have been fantastic and have absolutely delivered on their commitment to me and us on day one.
“They said they were committed to letting me and the senior team have the autonomy to run the business, which they absolutely have, and they said they were absolutely committed to our brand, our office and our operations and they have delivered on all those promises 100 per cent.
“That is a massive testament to the people and the business that they are, and I’d like to thank them personally for that trust and respect.
“I have many, many reasons to admire and respect JR for what he has built over 25 years at AO, but perhaps the biggest single one is his infinite passion, energy, stamina, and vision for what he wants to achieve at AO. Magpie is in the safest of hands.
“But as JR and I have discussed recently, I am now ready for a break and as I have gone into my 20th year of the Magpie journey, I have realised more and more that actually whilst I still enjoy it very much, and Magpie still has massive potential to fulfil, I don’t need to be on the pitch every day and run my arse off in centre midfield when I have such an exceptional team around me.”
He described musicMagpie as his ‘fourth daughter’ but said he planned to spend more time with his other three daughters, his wife Cath and their two grandchildren.
Oliver said he also planned to devote more time to some of the companies he’s invested in, including Doorly (formerly Appacut) and Bioloon, which has developed the world’s first biodegradable balloon.
His successor, Jonathan Miller, who is currently the chief commercial officer, said: “I joined Magpie over 10 years ago in what turned out to be a sliding doors moment, and we’ve been on an incredible journey together ever since. Steve’s been a fantastic boss, mentor and more importantly a great friend.
“It is with immense pride that I will be succeeding him as managing director on October 1 and leading musicMagpie into the next phase of our exciting journey.
“I can’t wait to get started in my new role and build upon the great legacy that Steve leaves behind, with the support of the brilliant musicMagpie team. I and everyone at Magpie wish Steve and his family all the very best in his post-Magpie world… it’s been one hell of a ride.”