A phone call, a discussion, and a firing: Behind Delaporte's Wipro exit

livemint.com:

BENGALURU : Wipro Ltd chair Rishad Premji asked chief executive officer Thierry Delaporte to step down during a late March phone call, where the Frenchman wanted to know if he’d get a second term at the company which has trailed rivals amid an employee exodus. Delaporte, whose five-year term was to end on 5 July, 2025, told Premji that India's fourth largest IT services company should do better in the second half of FY25, two executives aware of the call said, despite Wipro not expected to grow in the April-October period.

Mint could not ascertain internal growth numbers discussed in the call; however, Wipro, which declares earnings on 19 April, is expected to see its full-year revenue decline. To Delaporte’s surprise, Rishad declined to offer a second term, and expressed unhappiness with Wipro's continued underperformance, based on the growth numbers collated by the company for FY24 and the outlook for the first half of FY25, the two executives said on condition of anonymity.

The continued departures of senior Wipro executives and the growing disquiet over Delaporte's leadership finally made Rishad to seek the resignation, the executives said. Conversations related to separation typically occur in person, the first executive said.

However, this one started over a call, followed by emails and finally got the stamp of approval from the nine-member Wipro board, many of whom attended virtually. Delaporte, who visited India on 12 January at the time of third-quarter earnings, was to brief analysts and the media later this month at the fourth-quarter earnings.

That trip looks unlikely now. “Ideally, Wipro would have wanted to announce the leadership changes at the time of the earnings (fourth quarter)," said the second