Bukalapak.com Co-Founder Abruptly Resigns in Dramatic Shift

(Bloomberg) -- PT Bukalapak.com said co-founder Achmad Zaky will step down as chief executive officer on Jan. 6 to be replaced by an outsider, a dramatic shift in leadership at one of Southeast Asia’s most valuable technology startups.

The company said in a statement the change is aimed at strengthening management at the Indonesia e-commerce company and focusing on long-term sustainability. The new CEO will be Rachmat Kaimuddin, finance and planning director at PT Bank Bukopin.

Yet the changes come after Bukalapak has faced a string of struggles. It had to cut jobs in September, slashing about 10% of its workforce of roughly 2,500, in a bid for profitability. Zaky also generated controversy with Twitter posts that implicitly criticized the country’s president.

Started in 2010 from a rented room in Bandung, the capital of West Java province, Bukalapak emerged as one of Indonesia’s most successful startups, with a valuation most recently of $2.5 billion. Its online marketplace has more than 70 million active users and millions of small retailers relying on it every day.

Kaimuddin will have the job of moving past the recent controversies to improve governance and accountability. He will team up with the other two co-founders of the company, Fajrin Rasyid and Nugroho Herucahyono, who remain on the board as president and chief technology officer, respectively. Zaky plans to establish and lead a charitable foundation in his name and will also maintain ties with Bukalapak in a new advisory role.

Bukalapak is backed by Indonesian media conglomerate PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi, better known as Emtek, along with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte, China’s Ant Financial, Batavia Incubator and 500 Startups.

Earlier in the year, Zaky drew the ire of Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s supporters with a tweet suggesting his political rival might do a better job of supporting tech development in the country. The president had to publicly forgive Zaky in order to stem a grassroots campaign urging people to #UninstallBukalapak.

“We believe Rachmat is the right person, in the right team, for the right job, at the right time,” Zaky said in the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Harry Suhartono in Jakarta at hsuhartono@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, ;Thomas Kutty Abraham at tabraham4@bloomberg.net, Vlad Savov

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