After a long boardroom tussle, the first non-founder chief executive of Infosys, Dr. Vishal Sikka resigned from his post on Friday morning. Long-time company veteran U B Pravin Rao has now been named as the interim CEO.
The Bangalore-based IT company has appointed Sikka as the executive vice-chairman in a newly created position, the company said in an exchange filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
3:27 pm IST: Chairman emeritus Narayana Murthy further said that, "It is below my dignity to respond to such baseless insinuations." Read the FULL TEXT of his statement.
3:10pm IST: Narayana Murthy hit backs at the company board saying, "extremely anguished by the allegations, tone and tenor of the statements."
2:38 pm IST: The board is committed to the strategic direction set by Vishal Sikka: Ravi Venkatesan, co-chairman, Infosys.
2:30 pm IST: With incredible sadness have accepted the resignation of Vishal Sikka, fully understand his reasons: R Venkatesan, co-chairman, Infosys
2:27 pm IST: What was difficult to deal with was continuous allegations and continuous noise around the same thing: Vishal Sikka
2:25 pm IST: I started more than 3 years ago on this journey, I am proud of the results we achieved: Vishal Sikka
2:20 pm IST: Infosys is an iconic institution: Vishal Sikka
2:15 pm IST: In many ways it is a sad day, but in many ways it might help things: Vishal Sikka told the media after his resignation as CEO.
2:05 pm IST: After stepping down from the postion of CEO and MD of Infosys, Sikka said he would now assume the position of executive vice-chairman of Infosys, which entails an annual salary of $1.
1:57 pm IST: After Vishal Sikka resigned as the managing director and chief executive officer of Infosys, the company lost more than Rs 28,000 crore in market value. The company had issued six dividends to its shareholders during Sikka's tenure.
1:45 pm IST: Share price of Infosys fell by over 13 percent. At 1:40 pm the stocks are trading at Rs 904. 25, amid the resignation of Sikka. This is the biggest drop of Infosys shares in the last one year.
12:50 pm IST: Sikka said he was constantly defending against "false, baseless, malicious and increasingly personal attacks." Read the FULL TEXT of Vishal Sikka letter to the staffs.
11:25 am IST: In a press statement Infosys said, "Mr. Murthy's continuous assault, including this latest letter, is the primary reason that the CEO, Dr. Vishal Sikka, has resigned despite strong Board support."
10:15 am IST: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy claimed in an email to some of his advisers that he had been told by at least three independent directors of the company that Vishal Sikka was not chief executive officer (CEO) material, best suited for chief technology officer (CTO), a media reported. Hours after Murthy's claims surfaced in media, Sikka resigned.
9:09 am IST: In an exchange filing, the Infosys informed BSE that the board has accepted Sikka's resignation.
