Founders of Infosys sell their stake in company for $1.1 billion

Families of four Infosys co-founders, including Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, on 8th Dec 2014 sold over $1 billion (Rs 6,484 crore) worth shares -- within months of all original promoters exiting the management and Vishal Sikka becoming the first outsider CEO.

Co-founders N.R. Narayana Murthy, K. Dinesh and Nandan M. Nilekani and their families sold 30.2 million shares at an average price of 1,988.87 rupees, according to an e-mailed statement today. The wife of S.D. Shibulal also sold 2.4 million shares, with all sales to institutional investors handled by Deutsche Bank AG. Following are the details -



“The sale has been done to partially monetize their stake, after more than three decades of nurturing the company,” the founders said in the statement. The sale is also “for personal reasons including for the betterment of society through various philanthropic activities.”

The shares have been sold at a time when the company has gone through a major governance and management restructuring. The last of the Infosys founders stepped down from the board in October this year, while former SAP executive Vishal Sikka has taken over as the CEO. This is the first time that someone other than the co-founders has been appointed as CEO.

Co-founders of Infosys Ltd have capitalized on a gain in share price, but their action led to a sharp plunge of about 5 per cent in the Infosys's share price eroding almost $two billion from the company's market capitalisation. Infosys was founded in 1981 and has more than 161,000 employees

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