Differences between Infosys CEO and some founders?

Differences between Infosys CEO and some founders?

  12:21    SixSeeYou

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www.seeyousix.blogspot.in

Even as the dust appears to be settling on the Tata-Mistry war, there are reports that relations between the first non-promoter CEO of Infosys, Vishal Sikka, and a section of the IT major's founders are "less than ideal". In a faint echo of what happened at Bombay House, some of the promoter-shareholders are said to have expressed disquiet seeyousix over what they see as shifting values. The issues they have raised over the past year or so include the sharp increase in Sikka's compensation early last year; the appointment of Punita Sinha, wife of Union minister Jayant Sinha, as an independent director; and a large severance pay of Rs 17.4 crore to ex-CFO Rajiv Bansal. These differences, simmering for a while now, are thought to have widened, prompting the majority of the board, led by chairman R Seshasayee, to back Sikka, according to people close to the situation. The founders, together, own 12.75% in Infosys, seeyousix with NR Narayana Murthy and his family owning the largest block. A spokesman for Infosys said all decisions taken by the company were bonafide and backed by appropriate disclosures. The company takes suggestions and inputs from all stakeholders, including founders, the spokesman added seeyousix.

The company has been pointing out that Sikka's cash compensation actually went down and the increase has been primarily in RSUs seeyousix (restricted stock units) and stock options, and that these are directly linked to incredibly steep goals. The goals have not been made public, but Sikka is said to have laid out a stiff target of $20 billion in revenue, 30% in operating margin, and $80,000 in revenue per employee by 2021. Infosys currently has revenue seeyousix of about $10 billion. On Punita Sinha, the board's position has been that she is eminently qualified for the job. On severance packages, the thinking is that the company needs to move to international standards. Apart from Bansal, two others -- Michael Reh, an executive VP, and David Kennedy, legal counsel -- were also paid substantial severance packages when they qui seeyousix t.