There’s no doubt he was a divisive figure; on the one hand proudly stating he was the saviour of print and on the other slashing costs, and jobs, across the merchant’s ailing European sites.

But he had energy, enthusiasm (the business sometimes seemed be rolling out a new initiative every other week) and a plan – diversification. 

His big problem was that turning around a supertanker like Paperlinx takes time. But, and, it’s a big but – he was getting results. While profits still seemed to be fair way off, the group’s losses were a fraction of what they were before he became involved. And in a publicly quoted company, it’s results that count.

I’m sure more will emerge over time, but right now Price himself is being uncharacteristically quiet. Presumably there was some kind of terminal disagreement between Price and Paperlinx’s two other board members relating to the ongoing strategic review.

But more importantly, what now for the UK’s largest paper merchant?

Regardless of the circumstances of Price’s departure, it’s clearly going to be an unsettling time for the business, but it’s also potentially unsettling for the industry at large because despite its recent woes, I’m pretty sure Paperlinx still supplies the majority of the commercial print industry’s paper.

Of course the UK operation is still big enough and ugly enough to fight another day, but will it have a new ‘corner’ in a few months time in the shape of a new owner?

Judging by the language coming from Oz, it seems likely, but as last week’s events prove we shouldn’t be surprised to be surprised when it comes to Paperlinx.