Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO of Chennai/US-based Zoho Corp, will step down as the company’s CEO. He will take a new role as Chief Scientist, responsible for deep R&D initiatives. The company’s co-founder Shailesh Kumar Davey will serve as new group CEO.

Another co-founder Tony Thomas will lead Zoho US. Rajesh Ganesan will lead ManageEngine division and Mani Vembu will lead the Zoho.com division, Sridhar Vembu said in a social media post.

“In view of the various challenges and opportunities facing us, including recent major developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), it has been decided that it is best that I should focus full time on R&D initiatives, along with pursuing my personal rural development mission,” Vembu said.

“The future of our company entirely depends on how well we navigate the R&D challenge and I am looking forward to my new assignment with energy and vigor. I am also very happy to get back to hands on technical work,” he said.

On AI, Vembu in November 2024 said, ““I have been crazy busy reinventing ourselves in the AI era. Every tech company (indeed every company!) has to figure this out. It is a huge opportunity if executed well and a huge challenge if not. As the saying goes, we can only deserve success, not assure it.”

Incidentally, Vembu who was the co-chair of the apex committee formed by the Centre, decided to set up three AI Centres of Excellence on Healthcare, Agriculture and Sustainable Cities.

Interestingly, Freshwork’s founder Girish Mathrubootham (who was once an employee of Zoho) in May 2024 handed over the post of CEO to President Dennis Woodsideis. One of the reasons was that he wanted to spend more time with the Chennai R&D team on developing various AI-based products.

Vembu has always believed in building a company without depending on venture capital or private equity.

“Since we have never taken money from investors, we have always been able to focus on what is best for the customer. Rather than worrying about short-term profits, we’ve had the freedom to think for the long term,” the company’s website says.

“This kind of independence changes how we approach problem-solving, empowering us to truly think differently. From how we build to how we hire, our unconventional approach has brought us to more than 15,000 employees and 100 million users around the world,” the company said.

Zoho was not built in a day. In 1996, Vembu along with his co-founders started AdventNet (Zoho’s parent company) with a focus on Network Management. In May 2009, the company announced that AdventNet Inc will become ZOHO Corporation.

Today, with over 55 apps in nearly every major business category, Zoho is one of the world’s most prolific technology companies. Headquartered in Chennai, India, Zoho is privately held and profitable with more than 15,000 employees.

Published on January 27, 2025