The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price has continued its disappointing slide on Friday.
In afternoon trade, the artificial intelligence data services companyâs shares are down almost 3% to $2.49.
At one stage today, the Appen share price hit a multi-year low of $2.46, a far cry from its 2020 high of $43.66.
Not even the announcement of some new recruits has been able to keep Appenâs shares in positive territory today.
What did Appen announce?
This morning Appen announced the appointment of Mini Peiris as an independent non-executive director.
Ms Peiris is currently the chief marketing officer of Doma, which is a technology company innovating the real estate market.
Appen chair, Richard Freudenstein, said:
We are delighted to welcome Mini to the Appen Board, as we continue our process of Board renewal. Mini is an experienced executive having worked extensively in Silicon Valley. She has led digital transformation and strategic change at several well-known high-tech companies. She has a successful track record in business-to-business marketing and in scaling and changing business models for both small high-growth companies and large enterprises.
In addition, Appen announced that Sean Carithers has joined the company as senior vice president, global. The company notes that Carithers is a seasoned executive with deep expertise in markets relevant to Appen and has successfully transformed and grown large businesses.
Why is the Appen share price at a multi-year low?
Investors have been selling down the Appen share price again this year due to its abject performance.
And, unfortunately, with many of its key customers struggling right now, such as Meta (Facebook), there are concerns that demand for its services could lessen further.
In addition, investors appear concerned by increasing competition in the industry from the likes of Amazon and Sagemaker.
For example, last week, Morgan Stanley put an underweight rating and $2.25 price target on Appenâs shares. This was due partly to the intense competition and more sophisticated platforms being offered from rivals.
Elsewhere, last month, JP Morgan reiterated its underweight rating and warned that Appen could require a capital raising if its performance doesnât improve in the near future.
