Walmart-owned Flipkart is mulling the idea of naming a new Chief Executive Officer at the group level, Mint has reported. Binny Bansal, the ex-group chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of the Indian e-commerce company, had taken over the chairman's role in May amid then chairman Sachin Bansal's exit over differences with the company's board.
Walmart, which has bought 77 per cent stake in Flipkart for $16 billion in May, is now considering separating the responsibilities of the chairman and group CEO. Apart from its e-commerce platform, Flipkart group also owns fashion retailers Myntra and Jabong and mobile payments firm PhonePe.
Walmart is now looking for the candidates both internally and externally for the group CEO role. The current Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy is considered to be leading the race to become the group CEO. The Indian e-commerce player may be given liberty to nominate a new group CEO as the co-founder and current group CEO Binny Bansal is not actively involved in daily operations. He is likely to remain the chairman of the company.
If Bansal decides to leave the company, he will not be able to work with a competitor company of the Flipkart group for 18 months from the date of his resignation or from the date his shareholding in Flipkart falls below two per cent, according to a non-compete clause.
In the recent regulatory filing, it was informed that Walmart will have the right to appoint a new Flipkart CEO if the vacancy arises. The decision on naming the group CEO has not been finalised and the company may continue to work with the current structure. However, there have been aggressive conversations to decide on the name of the new CEO.
Walmart is going through a phase of restructuring with several of its senior officials moving at the group level at Flipkart. Recently, Walmart had appointed a new chief financial officer, general counsel, chief ethics and compliance officer and group controller.
In the upcoming days, if Flipkart announces its new CEO at the group level, it will witness the fourth major change in leadership in as many years.
