Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the Indian multinational construction company, is looking at taking over Mindtree, the Bangalore-based IT company, considering it as an investment deal, for Rs 15,000 crore. It also wants 26 per cent stake in Mindtree. However, the employees of Mindtree, have come out in support of their organisation and have raised their voices against the takeover through their tweets.
In a bid to acquire Mindtree, L&T is trying to buy the shares of Mindtree’s strategic investor, CG Siddhartha, who owns the Café Coffee Day Group.
The founders of Mindtree, however, are certain that a hostile takeover is pointless in an industry where employee relationships are of utmost importance. They believe that it is impossible to ‘buy a family’ and liken this deal a ‘dowry marriage’.
The staff has been tweeting about the ‘unique culture’ of the Company using the hashtag #MindtreeMatters. Some of these Twitter accounts seem to have been created recently. The barrage of tweets happened after co-founder, Subroto Bagchi, announced that he will return to protect the Company even if he had to give up his role in the Odisha government for it.
Senior executives have also joined the Twitter campaign stating that it is impossible to ‘buy values and family’. The employees tweet that if the takeover happens, they will not be able to show the same love to L&T.
Their tweets have created quite a stir, with people wondering whether the HR at Mindtree had asked the staff to canvas on Twitter. Some are of the opinion that if the employees have actually been asked to tweet, it is not really fair, since it is not right to ask the staff to take sides in such a matter.
