Mohit Gupta, the CEO of Zomato’s food delivery division, has been elevated as co-founder of the company. This was informed by the company’s CEO Deepinder Goyal, in an email sent to employees on Sunday.
Deepinder wrote in the email, “I have been working with MG (Mohit Gupta) for two years now. During this time, we have built so much at Zomato and have gone through so many ups and downs that it feels like I have been working with MG for way longer than that.”
While the foundation of Zomato was built before MG joined us, he has been instrumental in significantly strengthening it over the last two years, Deepinder added.
Talking about Mohit’s ownership and commitment, Deepinder said that he has taken a 100% salary cut twice in the last two years to help the organisation wade through some hard times. “His resilience to continue building and aim for victory even during the toughest times, is something everyone can learn from,” Deepinder wrote.
Mohit joined Zomato in 2018, from online ticketing and travel platform MakeMyTrip where he was the chief operating officer.
Zomato was founded in 2008 by Deepinder, Pankaj Chaddah and Gunjan Patidar. While, Pankaj quit the company in 2018, Gunjan is still the co-founder. As per reports last year, Zomato also elevated Gaurav Gupta, COO of Zomato as co-founder. With Mohit, Zomato now has four co-founders.
Mohit’s elevation comes fresh on the heels of a massive layoff exercise, where 13% of the workforce was let go, and pay cuts were instituted across the company.
Deepinder said in a note to employees at the time that with the restaurant industry taking a massive hit due to COVID-19, several restaurants have shut down permanently, and he expects the number to shrink by 25-40% over the next 6-12 months.
By way of support for those being laid off, laid off employees will receive 50% of their salary for the next six months, along with other means of support to find other jobs, and health insurance.
Zomato currently has around 5,000 employees across the globe and around 650 people are being laid off.
Amid the lockdown, Zomato also expanded into delivery of grocery, which is live in 185 cities across India.