In what comes as a shocking news to the business industry, Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has resigned from the position of the company’s CEO. This was after an independent investigation into an allegation of ‘serious personal misconduct’.
Flipkart’s parent company, Walmart, in a joint statement with Flipkart, announced the resignation.
“Binny has been an important part of Flipkart since co-founding the company, but recent events risked becoming a distraction and Binny has made a decision to step down”, Walmart said in the statement.
An internal investigation was conducted on behalf of the two companies after the allegations were made against the former CEO.
No Evidence; Lack Of Transparency Behind Resignation
Walmart did admit in its statement that even though they did not find any evidence to ‘corroborate the complaint’, it did find Binny to be responsible for a ‘lack of transparency’ in dealing with the situation.
The statement read, “While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgement, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation.”
It was for this particular reason that the company decided to accept Binny’s resignation.
According to CNBC-TV18, Walmart first learned of the allegation of misconduct in late July, after which the investigation started.
#BansalOutOfFlipkart | Allegation does not involve an employee. Binny Bansal chose to resign & informed Flipkart associates this morning about his decision, says Walmart in a #CNBCTV18Exclusive pic.twitter.com/YmaNyYfDTv
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) November 13, 2018
Another important point revealed by CNBC-TV18 is that the allegation does not involve an employee of Flipkart.
Binny has strongly denied the allegations. However, he chose to resign and informed the Flipkart associates this morning.
Also Read: Walmart Is Doomed To Fail In India With The Flipkart Buy Out
Conspiracy By Walmart?
In what was the world’s biggest e-commerce deal, Walmart acquired Flipkart earlier this year for $16 billion. The company now owns 77% of the Indian e-commerce giant.
The deal saw the exit of Flipkart’s founder Sachin Bansal, who at that time said that he was stepping down to take time off for some ‘personal projects’.
Some reports, however, claimed that Sachin Bansal was disappointed with the way the deal happened and he felt unwanted by the company.
He was almost kicked out by Walmart after the deal. It was even claimed that his relationship had soured with Binny and other top executives of the company.
In just under 6 months, Binny has followed the footsteps of long-time business partner Sachin into exiting the company. His exit too, seems strange to say the least. Without any evidence to prove the alleged misconduct, Binny resigned from the company.
One can’t help but think of this as a conspiracy by Walmart to get the Flipkart co-founders out of the company, as the exits of both Sachin and Binny seem strange.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy To Continue
In the statement, Walmart also announced that Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who was already heading the company’s main Flipkart e-commerce operations, would now act as chief executive for a broader group of businesses including Myntra and Jabong.
Ananth Narayanan will continue to act as the CEO of Myntra and Jabong. Sameer Nigam, meanwhile, will continue leading PhonePe as CEO. Both Kalyan and Sameer will report directly to the board.
This marks a big day in the history of Flipkart, as both its founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are no longer associated with the company 11 years after its formation.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Hindustan Times, India Today, CNBC + more
Find the blogger at @manas_ED
You’d also like to read:
Will Online Shopping Become Costlier Or Cheaper With Flipkart Getting Bought Over By Walmart/Amazon?
