Instead of working for other well-known corporate corporations, several IITians in the countries have founded their own businesses. Some even turned down lucrative positions in favour of starting their own businesses. Sridhar Vembu, the CEO and co-founder of Zoho, is one such individual. In 1996, he and Tony Thomas launched the privately held company Zoho, which produces cloud-based business software. He has a PhD from Princeton University and is an IIT Bombay alumni.
Vembu is a social entrepreneur and billionaire businessman with an estimated net worth of Rs 31493 crore. In the fiscal year 2023, Zoho's net profit was Rs 2,836 crore.
Sridhar Vembu, the founder of Zoho, has taken up the topic of employee welfare and layoffs, sparking an online discussion over "real" capitalism versus socialism. To "focus on the most important asset of any company - their own people and their well being?" he asked online users in his post on X if he was a socialist.
Vembu brought up the matter in a lengthy post on X, seemingly criticising Freshworks, which had just announced layoffs to streamline operations. Vembu questioned the practice of a corporation prioritising shareholders by implementing layoffs while it has a billion dollars in the bank. He went on to say that the business shouldn't therefore count on the loyalty of its staff.
"A company that has $1 billion cash, which is about 1.5 times its annual revenue, and is actually still growing at a decent 20 percent rate and making a cash profit, laying off 12-13 percent of its workforce should not expect any loyalty from its employees ever. And, to add insult to injury, when it can afford $400 million in a stock buyback," he wrote in a lengthy post on X.
"I can understand the unfortunate reality of layoffs when a business is struggling or declining and making a loss. This is not that situation, this is naked greed, nothing less," he said.
Vembu came down heavily on the company asking if it lacked vision and empathy to make such a move. "Don't you have the vision and imagination to invest $400 million in another line of business where you can deploy those people you hired but you don't want anymore? Are there no such opportunities in tech? Are you so lacking in curiosity, vision and imagination? Are you so lacking in empathy?"
On November 7, Freshworks CEO Dennis Woodside declared that the company would reduce its employment by 13 percent, resulting in the layoff of almost 660 workers.
The businesses have been at odds since 2020, when Freshworks was accused of stealing sensitive data by Zoho in a lawsuit.
Interestingly, Freshworks founder Girish Mathrubootham previously worked at Zoho before he started his company in 2010. The companies have been at odds since 2020, after Zoho filed a lawsuit accusing Freshworks of stealing confidential information.
