Heena Sharma Blog

The worst fears came true on Wednesday morning when local fishermen found V G Siddhartha , founder of Café Coffee Day , floating in Netravati river, some distance away from the Mangaluru bridge where he was seen last some on Monday night. The coffee tycoon had gone missing Monday evening, after which a massive search operation was launched. In a note purportedly written by him, Siddhartha had mentioned pressure from business partners and harassment by tax authorities. “I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure….’’ Crowds thronged to pay homage to the billionaire entrepreneur at the Wenlock Hospital in Chikkamagaluru, where his body was taken for post-mortem at 8.30 am. The body was taken to Cheekanahalli village (near Chikkamagaluru), where his parents live, and then to the office premises of Amalgamated Bean Coffee, the parent company of CCD, for public viewing. A voluntary bandh was observed across Chikkamagaluru as commercial estab...

Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd named S.V. Ranganath as interim chairman after founder V.G. Siddhartha was confirmed dead by the police on Wednesday. Ranganath is currently a non-executive independent director. The company has also set up a committee that will be vested with the powers of the chief executive and explore opportunities to deleverage the Coffee Day Group, the company said. Article Source -> Business Standard

The body of Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha , who had gone missing, was found on Wednesday in the Netravati river in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka after 36 hours of intense search, officials said. Two days prior to his disappearance, the coffee baron had left behind a note to his employees that revealed he was in deep debt. The mountain of debt was impairing his business as working capital requirements could not be met. It led him to sale his stakes in IT firm Mindtree that gave him some room to manoeuvre. "I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts. I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people that put their trust in me. I fought for a long time but today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure...," his note read. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

The body of Cafe Coffee Day founder V G Siddhartha has been found from the Nethravathi river, according to TV reports on Wednesday. Siddhartha's body was found on the banks of the river near the Hoige Bazaar in Mangaluru, according to news agency ANI. Siddhartha, the founder of India’s largest coffee chain, went missing on Monday night en route to the coastal Karnataka city of Mangaluru, with a letter purportedly written by him showing he was under "tremendous pressure" from lenders and one of the private equity partners (PEs). The letter also alleged "a lot of harassment" from tax authorities. A massive search operation involving teams of the National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, Home Guard, fire services and coastal police had continued throughout Tuesday. Search teams had scoured the waters under a bridge across the Nethravathi river near Mangaluru where the 60-year-old businessman was reportedly last seen. The son of a coffee planta...

"I have failed as an entrepreneur," V G Siddhartha , who has gone missing, has said in a letter purportedly written to the Board of Directors and employees of Coffee Day Enterprises , he founded. "After 37 years, with strong commitment to hard work, having directly created 30,000 jobs in our companies and their subsidiaries, as well as 20,000 jobs in technology company where I have been a large shareholder since its founding, I have failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts", he said. "I would like to say I gave it my all. I am very sorry to let down all the people who have put their trust in me," he said in the letter, widely circulated in the social media. There was no immediate confirmation on whether the letter was indeed written by Siddhartha. Siddhartha said he fought for a long time but "today I gave up as I could not take any more pressure from one of the private equity partners forcing me to buy...

Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) founder and former Karnataka Chief Minister, SM Krishna's son-in-law, V G Siddhartha , is suspected to have jumped off a bridge in Mangaluru on Monday night, the Times of India reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the news emerged after the Mangaluru City Police started a search for a person who had jumped off the kilometre-long Ullal bridge on Monday night. The report said that one of the police officers confirmed that a person was suspected to have jumped off the Ullal bridge, which is built across the River Nethravathi, at 9pm. A search operation is now underway while his mobile phone is reported to be switched off. According to the report, based on the statement of a person, reportedly a car driver, the person in question is suspected to be Siddhartha. Siddhartha had been in the news earlier this year when news agency PTI had reported that IT company Mindtree found certain irregularities in disclosures made by him. Read More Ar...