Former Housing.com CEO Jason Kothari joins Snapdeal

Moneycontrol Bureau

In a surprise move, Housing.com former CEO Jason Kothari has been appointed as Chief Strategy & Investment Officer by leading e-commerce player Snapdeal.

The move comes just a day after Housing was merged with PropTiger in an all stock deal. It was said that Kothari, who was appointed as CEO of Housing.com post ouster of founder Rahul Yadav – will no longer be associated with the company but will continue to be an advisor to the joint entity through the end of February, 2017.

Kothari will work alongside co-founders, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, in this role and will be joining Snapdeal on January 16, 2017.

As Chief Strategy & Investment Officer for Snapdeal, his responsibilities will include leading strategy; corporate development, including all investments and strategic partnerships; raising new capital for the Company; and portfolio management, overseeing companies Snapdeal wholly owns or has invested in.

The move can be seen as precursor of a tighter control over the e-tailer by global hedge fund investors.

Interestingly, Softbank and Nexus Ventures are common investors for both Snapdeal as well as Housing.

Last year, there were multiple media outlets reported that Snapdeal might acquire Housing.com but nothing materialised on ground.

Post ousting of Rahul Yadav from Housing.com, Kothari led the turnaround of the company from a position of distress to a market leader in one and a half years using organic and inorganic growth.

Commenting on the development Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl said, “Jason is a strong business leader & entrepreneur who has already been the CEO of two successful companies. Rohit and I warmly welcome Jason to the Snapdeal family and believe we will achieve even greater heights with his addition.”

 “Snapdeal is on its way to building one of India’s best companies, and I look forward to helping in making that potential a reality,” Kothari added.

Another interesting fact is that both Kothari and Bahl are alumni of the prestigious Wharton School – University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining Housing.com, Kothari was CEO and Vice Chairman of entertainment company Valiant Entertainment. Valiant raised USD 140 million from leading strategic investors, including the former CEO of Marvel Entertainment and Chinese media conglomerate DMG Entertainment. Follow @startup_18