Ola Cabs CEO Hemant Bakshi quits after four months; 10% jobs to be axed

Ola Cabs' newly minted Chief Executive Officer Hemant Bakshi has quit the firm, effective immediately, according to a news report.

His resignation comes against the backdrop of a restructuring exercise that the company will undertake as it prepares for its initial public offering, Moneycontrol reported, citing sources.

The report said that Bakshi's departure could also render about 10% of the roles in the organisation redundant. It added that ANI Technologies Founder Bhavish Aggarwal will look after the company's daily operations, and that "there will be a new appointment soon".

Ola did not immediately respond to queries from YourStory, and YourStory could not independently verify the veracity of the Moneycontrol story.

Bakshi's most recent media interaction was at Ola Cabs headquarters in Bengaluru, where he and Aggarwal announced an internal reorganisation in the company's cabs unit. The two, heaping praises on each other, spoke of fleshing out the company's bike taxi operations that Ola had already been piloting at that point.

The company has also taken several other steps to reorganise, including shutting down its overseas ride-hailing business in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, saying it is "reassessing priorities".

Vanguard, one of Ola Cabs' initial backers, has been downgrading the valuation of its stake in the company consistently in the last twelve months. In February 2024, it cut its valuation to $1.88 billion from $2.65 billion (as of August 31, 2023), according to regulatory filings.

Before that, it had devalued its stake by over 50% in August 2023, just six months after its first cut in February 2023.