India: Walmart dismisses Flipkart CEO post merger

Walmart announced on Tuesday, November 13, that Binny Bansal, the CEO of Flipkart, the Indian eCommerce company Walmart recently acquired, has resigned effective immediately.

In a press release, Walmart announced that while Bansal has been an important part of Flipkart since co-founding the company, recent events caused the risk of a distraction; as a result, he has made the decision to step down. According to Walmart, the decision comes after an independent investigation done on behalf of Flipkart and Walmart into claims of “serious personal misconduct.” Walmart stated Bansal strongly denies the claims.

“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,” Walmart wrote in the statement. “Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign.”

Walmart went on to note that Bansal had been contemplating a move for some time and that he has been working with the company to devise a succession plan. Those efforts have now been accelerated.

Going forward, 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 leadership as CEO of Myntra and Jabong, and will report to Krishnamurthy, Walmart stated. Sameer Nigam will continue leading PhonePe as CEO. Both Krishnamurthy and Nigam will report directly to the board of Walmart.

“As we look ahead, we have full confidence in the strength and depth of leadership across the company. We remain committed to investing for the long term and are supportive of the leadership team’s desire to evolve into a publicly traded company in the future,” the retailer said.

In May, Walmart paid US$16 billion to acquire a 77% stake in Flipkart. Since the deal, speculation has surged in the Indian media that Walmart was gearing up to make big changes to Flipkart as it takes on Amazon in eCommerce.

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