Mawson Infrastructure Group Names CEO, Doubles Down on U.S. Market

Mawson Infrastructure Group Inc., which promotes sustainable energy infrastructure and Mobile Data Center (MDC) solutions, has named Rahul Mewawalla (pictured, top of page) to succeed founder James Manning as CEO.

The move reinforces Mawson's growing focus on U.S. operations -- and acknowledges that former CEO James Manning is based in Australia.

Mawson has two areas of focus:

1. Digital asset mining, which involves blockchain-based mining technologies.
2. Infrastructure hosting, which positions itself as  "energy efficient, purpose built, hosting infrastructure that has been designed exclusively for the operation of blockchain based High Performance Computing" data centers.

Mawson is striving to shore up its business amid weakness in the digital currency mining market. Among the financial factoids to note:

• Revenue was $7.7 million in Q1 of 2023 -- down from $19.4 million in Q1 of 2022. The drop involved digital currency mining revenue falling from $18.8 million down to $2.7 million.
• Net loss was $11.38 million in Q1 of 2023 compared to $11.6 million in Q1 of 2022.
• Management is of the opinion that the company can "continue to access adequate debt and equity funding to meet its working capital requirements."
• The bullet points above cull information from a Mawson May 2023 filing with the SEC.

On Wall Street, Mawson's stock has fall roughly 99% from 2018. Shares trade at about $2.75 as of May 22, 2023 -- down from more than $360 per share as of July 18, 2018.

New CEO Rahul Mewawalla previously was CEO of Xpanse (2020-2021), EVP of Freedom Mortgage (2020-2021), and CEO of Zenplace (2014-2020), according to his LinkedIn bio.

Mawson Infrastructure Group CEO Transition: Executive Perspectives

Commenting on the CEO transition, Chairman Greg Martin said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to acknowledge and thank James for his vision and foresight in founding Mawson and for his leadership, passion and commitment in guiding the business through its formative years. The Board is both pleased and excited about the appointment of Rahul as the Company’s new CEO and President. This is an important development in Mawson’s journey and the Board looks forward to working with Rahul and to the leadership and direction he will provide in the next phase of Mawson’s growth and development.”

Mewawalla added: “I am delighted to join the Mawson leadership team at such an exciting time in the company’s history. We have an incredibly talented and innovative team at the Company, and I am looking forward to helping drive our new chapter of growth ahead.”

Ahead of the CEO transition, Mawson took steps to strengthen its balance sheet. The company in April 2023 sold off a Texas site for $8.5 million in cash and stablecoins. The proceeds of the sale "will be used for further debt reduction, as well as funding future expansions across Mawson’s other sites, including the acquisition of additional ASIC miners," the company said in April 2023.