The surprise announcement came after the Board of Tata Sons met here and decided to replace 48-year-old Mistry and appoint Ratan Tata, 78, as interim head. “Tata Sons today (Monday) announced its board has replaced Cyrus P Mistry as Chairman of Tata Sons,” a Tata Sons statement said.
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.
TVS head on search committee
The board named a five-member search committee, which includes Tata, to choose a successor to Mistry within four months. Other members of the selection committee comprised TVS Motors chairman 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. “The committee has been mandated to complete the selection process in four months,” it added.
