Infosys war out in open, CEO Vishal Sikka quits, board blames Murthy

In moves that raised issues of boardroom governance, the Infosys board of directors rallied behind Sikka and tore into chief founder N R Narayana Murthy, saying he forced the exit of the CEO with his “continuous assault”.

Citing “unrelenting, baseless/malicious and increasingly personal attacks” against him, Vishal Sikka, the first professional CEO of information technology services giant Infosys Ltd since the exit of the original founders, announced his resignation from the firm Friday.
In moves that raised issues of boardroom governance, the Infosys board of directors rallied behind Sikka and tore into chief founder N R Narayana Murthy, saying he forced the exit of the CEO with his “continuous assault”.
While Sikka did not identify the specific quarters from where the “personal attacks” emanated, the board, embroiled in a battle for legitimacy with Narayana Murthy, did not mince words: “Mr Murthy preferred his diktat to prevail with no place or tolerance for the outcomes of shareholder democracy’’.
Responding to the direct attack by the Infosys board, Narayana Murthy, in a statement, said he was “extremely anguished by the allegations, tone and tenor of the statements’’.
Sikka’s resignation came a day ahead of an Infosys AGM to decide on a Rs 13,000-crore share buyback to utilize excess cash in the reserves of the company.
Sikka, 51, joined Infosys Ltd in August 2014 following the exit of the last of the founder CEO. He was credited with setting the company on a path of transformation away from the traditional IT services business through adoption of new age technology like artificial intelligence and robotics.
Sikka and the Infosys Ltd board were, however, beset over the last 18 months with countering allegations of misgovernance over several issues raised by a group of founders led by Narayana Murthy who are key shareholders in the $10-billion revenue firm.

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