January 8th, 2009
Satyam management: We're staying; Unveils crisis plan
Updated: Satyam on Thursday said its top management team is staying despite the revelation that founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju cooked the books.
In a statement, Satyam followed up on a day that included a stunning letter from Raju revealing a $1 billion cash sink hole and other fraudulent acts.
Ten of the most senior executives of Satyam, including interim CEO Mr. Ram Mynampati, gathered at its headquarters in Hyderabad, have collectively committed not to resign from the company which has approximately 53,000 associates. Approximately 40 other top managers from various geographical regions - known as the “Leadership Council” - have also given their commitment to remain in the company.
The goal of this band of 10 is to navigate Satyam through the crisis and keep customers. The pledges to stay on board from top management are designed to “assuage concerns of various stakeholders in a highly fluid and challenging situation.”
It remains to be seen if the current management team can keep customers. The executives sticking around include: Ram Mynampati, interim CEO; Subu D. Subramanian, Head, Manufacturing & Automotive;
T.R. Anand, Head of Telecommunications, Infrastructure, Media & Entertainment and Semiconductors; Keshab Panda, Head, Europe, Energy & Utilities; Virender Aggarwal, Head of Asia Pacific, India, Middle East, Africa; Manish Mehta, Head, SAP & Testing Practices; A.S. Murthy, Head, Global Delivery and Global Leadership Development; Murali Venkataramani, Head, Commercial; Hari Thalapalli, Head of Marketing; and S.V. Krishnan, Head of Human Resources.
Update: Satyam held a press conference on its plan to navigate the fraud fallout:
In a nutshell, Satyam management’s plan is to:
- Create a task force to keep the business running;
- Reach out to customers to assure them that Satyam will meet its business commitments;
- Assure employees;
- “Ascertain Satyam’s liquidity position’;
- And strengthen corporate governance.
Also see:
- Dennis Howlett: Satyam crashes with $1 billion cash hole
- Brian Sommer: The Satyam saga worsens - terribly so
- Tom Steinert-Threlkeld: Missing $1 Billion In Cash? Get In Line. The Phone Line.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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