Tag: night of the long knives

Infosys board “night of the long knives” causes chaos

image069Outsourcing giant Infosys appears to be suffering from the fallout of a boardroom coup.

The founder of Indian outsourcing giant Infosys staged a boardroom coup with four directors ousted and a former CEO returning to steady the ship.

Last week CEO Vishal Sikka announced his shock resignation, citing a series of “malicious” and “personal” attacks from Narayana Murthy, who founded the firm in 1981.

Now it seems that was all part of a grand plan from Murthy who has has now gone a step further, leading a boardroom coup that has seen four board members depart – including Sikka and chairman Ramaswami Seshasayee.

Seshasayee has been replaced by Nandan Nilekani, who co-founded Infosys and served as its chairman between 2002 and 2007.

Outgoing CEO Sikka will no longer stay on until his replacement is found, as was previously planned.

Nilekani said: “I am happy to return to Infosys, now in the role of non-executive chairman, and look forward to working with my colleagues on the board and in executive management on the business opportunities we see before us and delivering benefits to our clients, shareholders, employees and communities.

“I thank Vishal for his service as the CEO of Infosys over the last three years and wish him well in his future endeavours.”

Nilekani will have to rebuild the board and lead the search for a new CEO, while trying to steady the ship – and client and investor nerves.