The Gurugram-based e-commerce company AskMe has shut down its operations and lay-off around 4,000 employees.Severe cash crunch is said to be the reason behind it, when 97% stakeholder Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan-led Astro Holdings exited AskMe Group.
AskMe.com was started as a classified portal in 2010. The company launched its online shopping portal Askmebazaar in 2012, which focused on small and medium enterprises. Later in 2013, AskMe was acquired by Getit.
The top brass including CEO Kiran Murthi, CFO, Anand Sonbhadra and CMO Manav Sethi, have all resigned.
According to sources in the company, employees most of whom who have not been paid their salaries have been asked to leave.
Things got worse after the company’s major investors Helion Ventures and Astro held back their interests towards further funding. The Astro back out from a supposed MBO (Management Buyout) scheduled at the end of July this year just added to the downslide.
The shutdown has left more than 4000 employees, vendors, and other creditors at AskMe and the investor, in a state of panic.
