Bukalapak.com Co-Founder Abruptly Resigns in Dramatic Shift
(Bloomberg) -- PT Bukalapak.com said co-founder Achmad Zaky will step down as chief executive officer on Jan. 6 to be replaced by an outsider, a dramatic shift in leadership at one of Southeast Asia's most valuable technology startups.
The company said in a statement the change is aimed at strengthening management at the Indonesia e-commerce company and focusing on long-term sustainability. The new CEO will be Rachmat Kaimuddin, finance and planning director at PT Bank Bukopin.
Yet the changes come after Bukalapak has faced a string of struggles. It had to cut jobs in September, slashing about 10% of its workforce of roughly 2,500, in a bid for profitability. Zaky also generated controversy with Twitter posts that implicitly criticized the country's president.
Started in 2010 from a rented room in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, Bukalapak emerged as one of Indonesia's most successful startups, with a valuation most recently of $2.5 billion. Its online marketplace has more than 70 million active users and millions of small retailers relying on it every day.
Kaimuddin will have the job of moving past the recent controversies to improve governance and accountability. He will team up with the other two co-founders of the company, Fajrin Rasyid and Nugroho Herucahyono, who remain on the board as president and chief technology officer, respectively. Zaky plans to establish and lead a charitable foundation in his name and will also maintain ties with Bukalapak in a new advisory role.
Bukalapak is backed by Indonesian media conglomerate PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi, better known as Emtek, along with Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, China's Ant Financial, Batavia Incubator and 500 Startups.
Earlier in the year, Zaky drew the ire of Indonesian President Joko Widodo's supporters with a tweet suggesting his political rival might do a better job of supporting tech development in the country. The president had to publicly forgive Zaky in order to stem a grassroots campaign urging people to #UninstallBukalapak.
“We believe Rachmat is the right person, in the right team, for the right job, at the right time,” Zaky said in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Harry Suhartono in Jakarta at hsuhartono@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, ;Thomas Kutty Abraham at tabraham4@bloomberg.net, Vlad Savov
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
-
AI Bias In Investing Cannot Be Eliminated, But It Can Be Governed
Framing is a particularly important example as identical financial information presented in terms of gains rather than losses can lead an LLM to reach a different assessment.
-
Joining The Dots | Dark Skies, Steady Diya: Why Hope Holds This Diwali
With war, a weak rupee and foreign outflows weighing on sentiment, policymakers at the NDTV World Summit and market veterans at NDTV Profit Ignite: Diwali Edition offered the same advice: stay invested and filter out the noise.
-
The Curious Case of Equitas Small Finance Bank And A CEO Who Quit For Stock
PN Vasudevan believes persistent investor concerns over a perceived conflict of interest had become a governance overhang on Equitas Small Finance Bank's stock, even as the lender improved profitability and asset quality.
-
Talking Points This Week: AI Cash Burn, A Tiger Comeback And An India That Still Finds Its Own Path
India is not immune to higher oil or tighter global liquidity, yet its earnings base is broader, its domestic policy levers are still available.
-
Foreign Investors Own Half Of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. An LTCG Cut Could Matter Most Here
Foreign portfolio investors have US$115 billion parked in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank. If the government cuts long-term capital gains tax, Jefferies says returning foreign money could land here first.
-
'Never Seen This Level Of Negativity': Sandeep Tandon Says The Next Rally May Be Closer Than You Think
Veteran investor Sandeep Tandon says foreign selling is easing, large-caps are due a comeback and mid-caps are crowded, while he turns positive on gold, power and pharma this Diwali.
