Mumbai: The board of Housing.com has fired the co-founder and CEO Rahul Yadav, bringing to an end a tumultuous relationship at one of India’s most-watched startups. Rahul Yadav is known for his controversies with its competitors and openly pointing them and accusing them of poaching his talents. He also has a very rough relationship with his Board of Directors.
In a board meeting on Wednesday at Housing.com’s headquarters in Mumbai, the company cited his “behaviour towards investors, partners and the media” as the reasons for his ouster. “The board believed that his behaviour is not befitting of a CEO and is detrimental to the company,” said a person aware of what transpired at the board meeting.
Rahul Yadav, an IIT-Bombay dropout who started the real estate with collegemates in 2012, will have no further ties to the company. He was asked to leave the premises immediately after the meeting, Anticipating violence, the lawyers for main investor SoftBank had called in the local police to help in case of any resistance by Yadav, but he left without any incident.
The company is searching for an interim CEO.
Earlier this week Media reports stated that Yadav had resigned again, after the board took the initiative to ease him out of the company.
“Rahul was on probation from the last time he resigned, and when he didn’t meet targets set by the investors, he was asked to leave,” said an investor in the company, which was valued at Rs 1,500 crore during its last round of funding in November. Yadav previously resigned at the end of April—that letter also questioned the intelligence of investors–but the board asked him to stay back then after extracting an apology.
SoftBank, which has a 32% stake in Housing, has formed an executive committee that controls the finances and operations of the company. The committee is led by Jonathan Bullock, the SoftBank executive who has replaced the investment firm’s vice-chairman Nikesh Arora on the Housing board.
Reports also state that a deal is brewing between Housing and classifieds portal Quikr, and that it would hinge on what decision was taken regarding Rahul Yadav. The prospect of a transaction did not figure at the board meeting on Wednesday.
