'Naked greed': Zoho's Sridhar Vembu blasts rival Freshworks for layoffs

Freshworks 'should not expect any loyalty from employees ever', he says

Sridhar Vembu, founder of software development company Zoho Corporation, on Friday accused Freshworks of prioritising shareholder buybacks over employees, criticising a rival for job cuts.

 

California-based Freshworks said on Thursday it would lay off 13 per cent of its workforce, or 660 employees, globally in a bid to streamline operations, Reuters reported. Vembu, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), called the move “naked greed” without naming Freshworks. Zoho and Freshworks compete in the software as a service sector.

 

"A company that has $1 billion cash, which is about 1.5 times its annual revenue, and is actually still growing at a decent 20 per cent rate and making a cash profit, laying off 12-13 per cent of its workforce should not expect any loyalty from its employees ever. And to add insult to injury, when it can afford $400 million in a stock buy back [sic]," said Vembu

 

"I can understand the unfortunate reality of layoffs when a business is struggling or declining and making a loss. This is not that situation, this is naked greed, nothing less," he added.

 

A Freshworks official declined to comment on the allegations.

 

Zoho filed a lawsuit in March 2020, alleging that Freshworks stole its confidential information and used it to build its business. The lawsuit was reportedly settled later.

 

Vembu on Friday questioned Freshworks leadership too. "Don't you have the vision and imagination to invest $400 million in another line of business where you can deploy those people you hired but you don't want anymore? Are there no such opportunities in tech? Are you so lacking in curiosity, vision and imagination? Are you so lacking in empathy?" he asked.

 

"This behavior, sadly, has become all too common in the US corporate world and we are importing it in India. It has only resulted in large scale employee cynicism in the US and we are importing that too," he said, indicating that this is reason why he wants to remain private. "We put our customers and employees first. Shareholders should come last."