INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Binny Bansal's resignation takes effect immediately.Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal has resigned as group CEO following a probe into
allegations of "serious personal misconduct", the e-commerce company and its parent Walmart Inc said in a joint statement on Tuesday."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 companies said, adding that his resignation would take effect immediately
(Read full statement here)"His 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," the statement said."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 added.Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who heads the company's main Flipkart e-commerce operation, will act as chief executive for a
broader group of businesses including apparel websites Myntra and Jabong.Ananth Narayanan will continue to lead the company as CEO of Myntra
and Jabong, and will report to Mr Krishnamurthy
board.Walmart, in May this year, acquired a majority stake in Bengaluru-headquartered Flipkart in a $16-billion deal, marking the US
retailer's largest-ever deal
Soon after, another co-founder, Sachin Bansal, quit the company.With the latest development, both Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny
Bansal, are out of the company
The two, former employees of Amazon, met as students at IIT-Delhi and together founded India's biggest e-commerce marketplace in 2007.In
2016, Binny Bansal took over as CEO and Sachin Bansal became executive chairman.The e-commerce major also said it remains committed to
investing for the long-term and is "supportive of the leadership team's desire to evolve into a publicly-traded company in the future".
