Binny Bansal Steps Down as Flipkart CEO Over Probe in Personal Misconduct
According to reports, Bansal quit after an investigation into an alleged allegation of serious personal misconduct. The e-commerce firm is now controlled by Walmart Inc after the latter acquired 77 percent of Flipkart for $16 billion in May.
Mumbai, November 13: Binny Bansal, Flipkart co-founder and group chief executive officer (CEO) on Tuesday resigned from the company with immediate effect. According to reports, Bansal quit following an allegation of ‘serious personal misconduct’. However, Bansal, who along with Sachin Bansal had co-founded India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart, denied all the allegation. The e-commerce firm is now controlled by Walmart Inc after the latter acquired 77 percent of Flipkart for $16 billion in May.
In its statement, Flipkart said that Binny's decision follows an independent investigation done on behalf of the Flipkart and Walmart into an allegation of serious personal misconduct. He strongly denies the allegation. "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", the statement read.
The statement further 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. Because of this, the company has accepted his decision to resign. Walmart's Takeover of Flipkart Gets Clearance From Competition Commission of India.
The company further informed that going forward, Kalyan Krishnamurthy will continue to be CEO of Flipkart thus continuing to operate as separate platforms within the Flipkart business. Ananth Narayanan will continue providing great leadership as CEO of Myntra and Jabong, and will report into Kalyan.
In May this year, Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal had announced the end of his ten-year-long tenure with the company following the announcement of US-based Walmart's acquisition of a major stake in the e-commerce firm. Bansal took to Facebook and announced that he would be taking a step back from the company to "focus on pending personal projects". In his Facebook post, he wished Flipkart and its employees the best for its upcoming journey.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 13, 2018 05:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).