Rahul Yadav, co-founder and chief executive officer of Housing.com and a mercurial executive whose public antics have surprised and amused observers in recent weeks, was fired from the company after a board meeting today, the company said in a statement.
"The Housing Board, unanimously agreed to bring Yadav's tenure to a close, with reference to his behaviour towards investors, ecosystem and the media. The Board believed that his behaviour is not befitting of a CEO and is detrimental to the company..." the company said in the statement, adding that he will not be associated with the company in any way from now on.
The decision caps months of public antics by Yadav, in which he has taken on the media, his own investors and founders of other startups. It also brings to an abrupt end his meteoric rise as the founder and CEO of a startup that investors seemingly couldn't get enough of.
The three-year old startup has been valued at $250 million (Rs 1,500 crore) after Softbank invested $70 million for a 30 percent stake in November 2014. Other investors include Helion Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Falcon Edge and Nexus Venture Partners.
The meeting saw anxious moments, as investor Softbank had requested local police presence at the premises anticipating violence by Rahul Yadav or his supporters, The Economic Timesreported. He was asked to leave the premises immediately and in the end the young CEO left without incident, the ET report said.
Around the time the board meeting got over, Yadav made this public post on his Facebook page, which he has used to unleash much commentary in recent weeks.
It's unclear how he is an "INR billionaire" though, as he had publicly said he was allocating all of his Housing stock to employees. He had also specifically challenged two other start-up founders to do the same.
Yadav, 26, is an IIT-Bombay dropout and had been in the news since March when he fired off a scathing letter to Sequoia India's head Shailendra Singh accusing him of poaching employees. The letter landed up on Quora and was widely shared. Next, he resigned from the company, saying investors were not intellectually capable. He then rescinded the resignation, and said that he would give away all his shares — worth about Rs 200 crore — to employees.
Today's sacking brings an end to all the drama, which is unusual in the Indian corporate world. The company board is now looking for an interim CEO.
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