The Tata Sons board of directors has replaced Cyrus P Mistry as the chairman, the company declared on Monday. Ratan N Tata, who serves as Chairman Emeritus, will have interim command.
It is a corporate ‘Dangal’ that surprised many and in a dramatic development that took the corporates and others by surprise, Cyrus Mistry on Monday was sacked as the Chairman of Tata Sons and was replaced by Ratan Tata, from whom he had taken over the reins of the over USD 100 billion salt-to-software conglomerate four years ago.
The surprise announcement came after the Board of Tata Sons met and decided to replace 48-year-old Mistry and appoint Ratan Tata, 78, as interim head. The board named a five-member search committee, which includes Tata, to choose a successor to Mistry within four months.
The board constituted a selection committee comprising Tata, TVS Group head Venu Srinivasan, Amit Chandra of Bain Capital, former diplomat Ronen Sen, and Lord Kumar Bhattacharya. All of them, except Bhattacharya, are on the board of Tata Sons.
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Mistry was chosen as Tata’s successor in November 2011 and was appointed Deputy Chairman of Tata Sons, whose board he had entered in 2006. He was made chairman on the basis of his representation from Shapoorji Palonji, the largest shareholder in Tata Sons.
There were no reasons given for the change of leadership of the man who was brought in with much fanfare but it is believed that Tata Sons was unhappy with Mistry’s approach of shedding non-profit businesses, including the conglomerate’s steel business in Europe, and concentrating only on cash cows.
The panel comprises of Ratan Tata and four other executives and has been proposed to conclude the selection process in four months.
Cyrus Mistry was designated as the chairman of the Tata Sons board in 29th December 2012, succeeding Ratan Tata.
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With inputs from PTI