Bengaluru: Personal lives of employees or senior functionaries rarely have a bearing on the functioning of a company. We have seen family feuds among top bosses play out in the media, but rarely seen them impact company operations.
Still, a high-profile divorce at data analytics firm Mu Sigma has suddenly brought the company to the centre of attention. Who is the estranged couple? It is the the company’s founder-chairman Dhiraj Rajaram and CEO Ambiga.
The parting of ways for the two has assumed significance as Mu Sigma happens to be among the very few India-based unicorn startups (a start-up company valued at over $1 billion). The development has thus raised concerns over the future management of the company in view of the two top bosses parting ways.
In conversation with Economic Times, Rajaram said that Ambiga would continue in her role as the CEO “for now”, he did mention that the long-term would see a change. Rajaram, an alumnus of the University of Chicago and the College of Engineering in Guindy, Chennai, founded Mu Sigma in 2004. Ambiga succeeded him as CEO in February, but had been an employee of Mu Sigma for about eight years in various roles.
Ambiga, a former Motorola engineer, said that the divorce had come through a "couple of days ago" and that she did not expect any change in the management of the company due to the divorce. “This is just a personal matter and will not have any impact on the company. Our commitment is to the employees of Mu Sigma and the shareholders. I'm still the CEO of the company," Ambiga told ET.
The current state of affairs may send alarm bells ringing among investors in the company, though the couple say they had informed the investors of trouble in their marriage around six months ago. The promoters own about 48 per cent in Mu Sigma, according to Rajaram. Sequoia Capital, General Atlantic Partners, MasterCard and Fidelity are the major investors in the company, which was last estimated to be valued at $1.5 billion (Rs 10,079 crore approx.)
The data analytics company, which is based in Bengaluru and Chicago, employs nearly 4,000 staff. According to Rajaram, Sequoia wants to stay invested in Mu Sigma, which has raised nearly $200 million (Rs 1,344 crore approx.) in funding. General Atlantic, he said, may want to exit, but he is prepared for that eventuality.
While the duo try their best to tide away apprehensions regarding their marital fallout, experts in corporate strategy believe that a messy fallout is inevitable when a huband-wife duo run a company. This is because while the other partners have the ability to foresee future disputes and have agreements in place to tide over such events, the same does not hold true for married couples running a company.
