Double Trouble: Two senior Myntra-Jabong executives to exit by December
An email shared by Ananth Narayanan circulated internally suggests that Chief Marketing Officer of Myntra and Head of Jabong and Myntra’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Categories are due to exit this December.
An email by the CEO of Myntra-Jabong, Ananth Narayanan, circulated within the organization carried the news that the Chief Marketing Officer of Myntra and Head of Jabong, Gunjan Soni, and Myntra’s Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Categories, Ananya Tripathi have decided to leave the organization by December this year.
What has to be kept in context is that this comes in just a few months after retail giant Walmart’s $16 Bn investment in Flipkart, Myntra and Jabong’s parent company. Moreover, Walmart’s M&A head Emily McNeal, joining as Senior Vice President is part of the four-person group of senior leaders that Walmart recently transferred to Flipkart Group. On the other hand, earlier this year, Myntra announced its aggressive offline endeavour with the plan to launch 100 stores in the next two years without taking focus off their in-house brands and projects ending this fiscal year at $1.9 Bn gross merchandise value run rate up from $1.2 Bn for FY18, with the boost from private labels and offline foray.
“Gunjan has played a key role in firmly positioning the brand Myntra as the leading destination for fashion and lifestyle,” Narayanan’s email read “Ananya has played a key role in strategy and made five successful acquisitions, including Jabong.”
Ananth Narayanan will continue to head Jabong and being involved with teams on a day-to-day basis while Manohar Kamath will be appointed as an interim Head of Categories on the side of his current involvement with Myntra Fashion Brands.
“Ananya Tripathi and Gunjan Soni have decided to pursue opportunities outside the organization,” said a Myntra-Jabong spokesperson and thus confirmed the news of their approaching exits.
“We have been expecting a management change in all of Flipkart Group companies starting quarter 1 of next year,” an analyst commented. “We understand that Walmart is looking to integrate these fashion platforms.”
One of the sources stated that Tripathi would be joining the global investment company, KKR, as an operating partner. The source was also aware that Soni, having been with Myntra since 2015, would be moving on to Zalora, a Singapore-based online fashion organization, as its CEO.
Image credit: Myntra.com