News of a Snapdeal acquisition by Flipkart may come in any day now. Indeed, we might hear an announcement to the effect in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, Kalari Capital’s representative to Snapdeal, Vani Kola, has resigned from the board of Jasper Infotech. Jasper in case you are unaware of it, is Snapdeal’s parent company.
Vani is a longtime Snapdeal veteran. Indeed, she was on the company’s board since 2009. Her resignation from the post of director came on May 2nd when she sent a letter requesting to be relieved of her duties. In her letter, she said:
I thank the board not only for giving me the opportunity and assistance to discharge my duties during my tenure as a Director of the company but also for the invaluable learnings, which I gained from my interactions with my fellow board members.
With this, Kalari has lost its eyes and ears in Snapdeal’s board which now consists of 5 members namely, founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Suvir Sujan of Nexus, Kabir Misra and Lydia Bly Jett of SoftBank Capital.
Of all the major venture firm, Kalari had the smallest, 8 percent stakes in the company. Snapdeal holds 30 percent stakes while Nexus holds around 10 percent. Each of them will receive some sort of payout which could range from $30 million to $100 million. Interestingly enough, Snapdeal (which was valued at $6.5 Billion at its funding round last year) could hit the block for merely $1 Billion.
There are also reports that following the merger, Snapdeal may offer a bonus to its employees. Following the mass layoffs that have taken place at the company, it has around 1,500 to 2000 employees and the company is said to be planning to make sure that all of them receive a bonus post the Flipkart acquisition. The Snapdeal founders have reportedly asked the board to ensure that half of their total payout (which is around $30 million) goes to the company’s employees.
This is being seen as a way to compensate employees who had received equity based compensation. It cold also cover employees who do not own ESOPs and could even extend to past employees who have left the company within the last 12 months. However, this is hearsay and we will have to wait for confirmation of the same.
