Reports suggest that Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy has been giving “preferential treatment” to Flipkart Fashion over Myntra and Jabong, which has led to a rift between the two
New Delhi: Following co-founder and Group CEO Binny Bansal's sudden exit from the Walmart-owned Flipkart over personal misconduct, fresh reports say that Myntra and Jabong CEO Ananth Narayanan might quit the company. Sources said that Narayanan might quit due to his personal rift with Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who is now the new CEO of Flipkart.
According to a Business Standard report, Narayanan’s departure further points at a change in the reporting structure, which is the integration of Myntra and Jabong with the larger Flipkart Fashion unit.
As per Walmart’s new strategy, Krishnamurthy will be the overall boss. Narayanan will continue as CEO of Myntra and Jabong and will report to Krishnamurthy. Sameer Nigam will continue to head PhonePe -- Flipkart's payments unit -- as CEO. Both Krishnamurthy and Nigam will report directly to the Walmart board.
According to reports, Krishnamurthy and Narayanan have a different style of working and are not on the same platform on many issues. Krishnamurthy is pushing for the integration of Myntra and Jabong with Flipkart's fashion vertical, Flipkart Fashion.
For long, Narayanan has been of the view that both brands -- Myntra and Jabong -- should be retained. More so, Narayanan was closer to Binny and had a “great working rapport”, sources added.
Flipkart had acquired Myntra and Jabong in May 2014 and July 2016, respectively. While Myntra was acquired for whopping Rs 2,000 crore, Jabong was bought for a discounted deal of Rs 504 crore.
Reports further point put that Krishnamurthy has been giving “preferential treatment” to Flipkart Fashion over Myntra and Jabong. During the Big Billion Day sales in 2017, all three entities claimed 80% market share. In October 2018, half of the sales (over 50 per cent) was claimed by Flipkart Fashion only, while Myntra and Jabong didn't even participate. Instead, they organised their own sales called Big Fashion Days.
(With agency inputs)
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