Walmart's warmth allays Flipkartians' fears over opportunities, road ahead

CEO McMillon addresses employees in town hall meeting as co-founder Sachin Bansal misses meet

It was the perfect ambience to celebrate the tying of the knot between Flipkart and Walmart. Employees at Flipkart’s swanky new office in Bellandur, an IT corridor in the outskirts of Bengaluru, were charged up to be a part of history in the making.

However, one person who was conspicuous by his absence at the Townhall was Sachin Bansal, the man who had founded the company with Binny Bansal almost eleven years ago.

In fact, a few of the curious employees even asked why Sachin was missing in action, prompting Walmart President and CEO, Doug McMillon, to step in and clarify that he had decided to part ways with the company.

As part of the $16-billion Walmart-Flipkart deal, Sachin has decided to sell his entire 5.2 per cent stake in the company, exiting from the e-commerce major he led for around eight years.

The Bengaluru campus was otherwise abuzz with energy as McMillion tried to allay all the apprehensions that were in the minds of Flipkartians about their future, post the deal. Accompanied by the management team including Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy, co-founder Binny Bansal, and Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, he spoke to the employees about the synergies, opportunities and road ahead for nearly 30 minutes at an open space at Flipkart’s newly-built 10 lakh square feet campus in Embassy Tech Village.

“He was absolutely cool and composed, and patiently listened to the questions and replied quite convincingly,” said a senior employee who was present at the Townhall. The questions were largely on whether Flipkart will continue to be run independently post the deal, what are the plans for the IPO and if Walmart would change the startup culture among other things.

While nearly 500 employees were present in person, almost a similar number working with subsidiaries Myntra, Jabong and PhonePe attended the event remotely through video conferencing.

“It means a lot to us as the CEO of the acquirer company which is as huge as Walmart meets employees on the day they announce the acquisition,” said another employee. It talks volumes about the open culture which is a major break from what employees have been used to in the past.

While Binny also fielded a few questions, Krishnamurthy was in his usual calm avatar, clapping and smiling during the announcement. “It is the dawn of a new era for India’s start-up ecosystem,” Binny tweeted post the event.

McMillion is also learnt to have spent almost an hour each with the Binny, Krishnamurthy and Narayanan chalking out future plans and strategies.