Fastfood billionaire Jack Cowin will assume an interim executive role at Domino’s Pizza Enterprises as its CEO and managing director Mark Van Dyck announced his unexpected resignation.
Cowin, the company’s biggest shareholder and chairman, has been appointed as executive chair effective immediately to lead Domino’s into a smooth transition while management undertakes a global search to replace Van Dyck, whose resignation takes effect on Dec. 23, 2025, according to a company statement.
Shares of Domino’s dropped as much as 26% in Sydney trading, before finishing 15.8% down to A$16.96, the lowest close in more than a decade.
“Mark has made a valuable contribution to Domino’s during a period of significant operational reset,” Cowin, 82, said. “With the strategic foundations now firmly in place, this transition enables a new CEO to take Domino’s to its next stage of growth.”
Van Dyck, who took the helm in November 2024, had earlier this year announced plans to close 205 money-losing stores, most of which in Japan, to cut costs and boost earnings. The downsizing will result in A$97 million ($64 million) in one-off restructuring costs and generate A$15.5 million in annualized network savings, the company said then.
Cowin brings over five decades of experience in the global quick-service restaurant sector. He is chairman and managing director of Competitive Foods Australia, which operates Burger King’s Australian franchise as Hungry Jack’s. across 480 restaurants and employs more than 25,000 people across Australia and New Zealand.
Cowin, a Canadian who moved to Australia after a holiday to Sydney in 1968, has a net worth of $3.3 billion based on Forbes real-time data. He built his fortune from a KFC outlet he opened in Perth in 1969. Two years later, he secured the Burger King franchise that he owns up to now. He sold his KFC franchise to Australian restaurant operator Collins Food in 2013.
