Failed as an entrepreneur: Missing VG Siddhartha tells CCD family
The founder of CCD, VG Siddhartha, who went missing from Mangaluru on Monday, told the employees of the prominent coffee chain that he failed as an entrepreneur, despite a lot of efforts. In a letter addressed to the CCD family, he lamented that he didn't succeed in creating a profitable business model. He also sought forgiveness in the parting letter.
Backstory: Siddhartha's driver saw him last, hunt is on
On Monday evening, Siddhartha, who is the son-in-law of former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna, told his driver to head towards Mangaluru. As they were crossing National Highway 66, he asked the driver to stop the car and got down while speaking on the phone. He was last seen on the bridge over Netravati river. Notably, a massive search operation has been launched.
Have been committed for 37 years, said Siddhartha
While the search operation is still underway, Siddhartha's "last letter" to the staff created an uproar. He started the letter by saying that he worked with the utmost commitment for the last 37 years. Siddhartha said he directly created 30,000 jobs in CCD and its subsidiaries, and also created 20,000 jobs in a technology company. However, he still failed to generate a profitable business model.
Siddhartha apologized for "letting people down"
Mentioning about financial troubles his company ran into, Siddhartha said, "I am very sorry to let down all people who had put their trust in me. I have failed as an entrepreneur." The "Coffee King" added that he fought for a long time but was giving up. He revealed that one of the private equity partners was forcing him to buy back shares.
Siddhartha borrowed money from a friend six months ago
Further, Siddhartha said he borrowed a large amount of money from a friend, six months ago. "There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax in the form of attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking the position of our Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us," he added.
No one knew about financial transactions, not even Siddhartha's family
Claiming he was solely responsible for all the mistakes, Siddhartha wrote, "Every financial transaction is my responsibility. My team, auditors and senior management and totally unaware of all my transactions." He said the law should only hold him responsible as he hid all the details from his family as well. Further, Siddhartha requested the staff to continue working under new management.
Lastly, Siddhartha said he never wanted to mislead anyone
"I hope someday you will understand, forgive and pardon me. I have enclosed a list of our assets and a tentative value of each asset. As seen below our assets outweigh our liabilities and can help repay everybody," Siddhartha said in conclusion.
