Flipkart has made major changes to its board of directors as the Walmart-backed e-commerce company prepares to go public in the US by 2022. Flipkart Group CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy will join the board along with three new ones. Directors: Keki Mistry, Vice President and CEO, HDFC; Suresh Kumar, global chief technology officer and chief development officer for Walmart; and Leigh Hopkins, executive vice president of strategy and development for Walmart International.
“I am also honored to have been invited to join the Board starting next year, and together with new and existing directors, I look forward to supporting Flipkart’s next steps and growth journey,” said Krishnamurthy, in an email. internal to employees.
Walmart USA, the world’s largest retailer, invested $ 16 billion in 2018 to gain a majority stake in Bengaluru-based Flipkart, valued at less than $ 21 billion. Walmart, in July, led a $ 1.2 billion investment in Flipkart, valued at $ 24.9 billion.
“They (Flipkart) are preparing for the initial public offering (IPO),” said an industry source familiar with Flipkart’s IPO strategy. “They are rebuilding the board and trying to make it more professional, so that you are IPO ready and have the right various skills and the mix of people externally and internally to be able to demonstrate it.” The firm expects to go public with a valuation of around $ 40 billion to $ 50 billion, according to sources.
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Several Flipkart directors will step down two years after Walmart’s investment. Steuart Walton, the scion of the billionaire Walmart dynasty, will be leaving the Flipkart board to focus on his role as chairman of the group’s board technology committee. He will continue to be involved with Flipkart. Walton guided Flipkart in combining its entrepreneurial spirit with the benefits of being part of the global company, Krishnamurthy said.
Rajesh Magow, who has been associated with Flipkart for almost ten years, will be leaving office to take on an advisory role. Following Walmart’s investment, he agreed to remain on the board to help the company transition under this new ownership structure. As the founder and CEO of MakeMyTrip, his experience and knowledge as an ecommerce leader has been extremely valuable to company board discussions.
After Flipkart partially parted ways with digital payments company PhonePe, Rohit Bhagat became the chairman of the PhonePe board. Flipkart held on to Bhagat to fully focus on PhonePe and leave the Flipkart board. He is expected to bring his fintech expertise to PhonePe.
Dirk Van den Berghe will retire at the end of March from his role as executive vice president of Walmart’s Asian businesses and global sourcing organization. He will also step down from the Flipkart board and continue to support the company as an internal advisor.
“We would like to thank the four directors for their important contributions during such an important time in the development of Flipkart,” said Krishnamurthy. “The four of them have made a huge difference in our progress as directors of the Board, providing us with valuable advice and challenging us to be more ambitious.”
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