Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has asked food delivery firm Zomato to clarify plans to have a multiple CEO structure under a so-called 'Eternal' restructuring scheme.
Moneycontrol was the first to report the restructuring idea earlier this week mooted by Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal in an internal memo.
Goyal's note regarding the executive level rejig was written last week after shareholders approved its acquisition of Blinkit, a grocery delivery startup that was previously called Grofers.
"Now that the Zomato-Blinkit deal is approved, we have three companies- Zomato, Blinkit and Hyperpure - in the order of business size/impact. In addition to these three, we also have Feeding India. We are now at a stage of life where we are maturing from running (more or less) a single business to running multiple large companies," Goyal wrote in the message, which Moneycontrol had viewed.
"We are transitioning from a company where I was the CEO to a place where we will have multiple CEOs running each of our businesses, all acting as peers to each other, and working as a super team with each other towards building a single large and seamless organisation. Starting today, we are going to call this larger organisation 'Eternal'," he had added.
At present, only two of Zomato's business arms have CEOs. While Rahul Ganjoo is the CEO of its food delivery segment, quick commerce company Blinkit (erstwhile Grofers) is led by co-founder and CEO Albinder Dhindsa. Meanwhile, B2B supplies business Hyperpure and non-profit arm Feeding India do not have CEOs.
Goyal explained further that Eternal is a mission statement in itself, as it means forever, something that will last for more than just a few lifetimes.
"Boundless, timeless, undying, endless, permanent- are some of the words that can be used to describe Eternal. Eternal will have multiple companies- it already has Zomato (delivery plus dining out), Blinkit, Hyperpure and Feeding India. Eternal will be an internal name for now- you should start seeing the Eternal logo at a few places in our new office. As well as some t-shirts," he further said.
This is the second time that SEBI has sought clarification from Zomato regarding a C-suite reshuffling. In September last year, the regulator had asked the company why it had not disclosed the departure of its co-founder Gaurav Gupta. At that time, Zomato had responded by saying Gupta’s exit was not disclosed to the bourses as he was not designated as a key managerial personnel, nor was he a promoter of the company.
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