After Walmart-Flipkart deal, Amazon to shift to overdrive; will it hire Infosys' Ravi Venkatesan?

When Ravi Venkatesan said, on Friday that he had quit the Infosys Board to pursue an “exciting new opportunity”, was that ’new opportunity’ at Amazon? At least, that is what an Economic Times report  suggested. 54-year-old Venkatesan was independent director on the Board of India’s second-largest software services major. According to the ET report, he has been looking at several options. One of them could be with Flipkart rival, Amazon, for which talks began last year, a source told the newspaper.

Venkatesan could join the e-commerce giant as either a board member, chairman or a senior advisor at Amazon India.

Besides Amazon, talks are on, the report said, for a role with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Venkatesan refused to comment on queries put forth by ET, the report added.

In April 2017, Venkatesan was made co-chairman of Infosys at a time when co-founder N R Narayana Murthy was gunning for then company management led by Chairman R Seshasayee and CEO Vishal Sikka over corporate governance issues, reported the PTI.

When Infosys named co-founder and former CEO Nilekani as its new chairman in August last year, Venkatesan stepped down as co-chairman but continued to be an independent director.

“I joined the board at a time when Infosys was beginning the complex journey of transitioning from founder-led to professional management. This was also a time of tectonic industry shifts. I am pleased that this mission has been accomplished. Infosys is strong, in good hands, and is gaining momentum,” Venkatesan said in the statement.

Venkatesan had “served briefly as co-chairman before successfully transitioning this responsibility when Nandan Nilekani became chairman in August 2017”, it added.

Amazon in overdrive

Last week, Amazon reportedly pumped Rs 2,600 crore more into its Indian marketplace business in a bid to battle Walmart-Flipkart. That infusion brought Amazon’s total investment in Amazon Seller Services, its main marketplace business here, to over Rs 20,000 crore.