In a surprising announcement from Walmart, its newly acquired e-commerce major Flipkart’s CEO Binny Bansal has announced his resignation as the group CEO of the company. According to a statement from Walmart, Binny’s resignation comes on the back of ‘recent events which risked becoming a distraction and Binny made a decision to step down’.
“His decision follows an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart into an allegation of serious personal misconduct,” a statement by Walmart said, “He strongly denies the allegation. Nevertheless, we had a responsibility to ensure the investigation was deliberate and thorough.”
“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, we have accepted his decision to resign,” the company said in a statement.
Who is Binny Bansal?
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded Flipkart in 2007. After Walmart acquired 77% stake in Flipkart, Sachin stepped down from the company. Binny Bansal stayed on and took over as CEO.
As per Walmart, Binny has been contemplating a transition for some time. Walmart, along with the Flipkart co-founder, was working on a succession plan, which has now been accelerated.
What happens now?
Kalyan Krishnamurthy will continue to be CEO of Flipkart, which will now include Myntra and Jabong, 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. Sameer Nigam will continue leading PhonePe as CEO. Both Kalyan and Sameer will report directly into the board,” Walmart added in its statement.
Despite the allegations, the details of which haven’t been disclosed by the company, Walmart says that it will continue to remain invested in the company for the long-term.
“… and are supportive of the leadership team’s desire to evolve into a publicly-traded company in the future,” Walmart added, hinting towards a path to an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Interestingly, Kalyan played a vital role in enabling the Walmart-Flipkart deal. He joined Flipkart in 2016, replacing Binny Bansal as CEO.
According to an Economic Times report, Walmart offered Krishnamurthy a retention bonus of about $2 million for staying on with the company for three years.
Binny Bansal has not yet commented on his resignation.