'Complete fiction': Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu reacts to estranged wife's allegations

Zoho is a well-known name in the IT industry. Besides being a prominent player in the Software as a Service (SaaS) space, it is also known to be profitable, a feat some of the top-notch start-ups are struggling to achieve. The company made a profit of Rs 2,747 crore in FY22. 

Moreover, Zoho’s co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu is a revered man in India’s business circles. He is known for leaving his comfortable life in the US to settle in a small village in Tamil Nadu called Mathalamparai. Building the rural economy and digitising it has been his motto and mission. 

The boss of Zoho which is apparently valued at $5 billion, may have achieved immensely but his personal life has gotten mired in controversy. A Forbes report, published on Monday, claimed that Vembu abandoned his wife and son in California, transferred his shares without telling her so that the latter wouldn't receive a fair share.

Vembu and his wife Pramila Srinivasan are fighting a divorce case in California. 

Vembu took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to clear the air on the controvery surrounding his personal life. “With vicious personal attacks and slander on my character, it is time for me to respond,” he said in a Twitter thread. 

 

Vembu then added how his personal life, in contrast to the professional one, has been a “long tragedy.” He then added that the condition of his son who has special needs left him “suicidally depressed.”

“My wife Pramila and I were in this fight against autism for over 15 years. She is a super mom and her passionate cause is curing our son of autism. I worked hard along with her. To ensure his safety I also took some of his treatments so I could know what they did to him,” he wrote adding, “As our son got older (24 today) I felt the endless treatments he was under were not helping much and he would be better off in rural India, closer to loving people and helping to lift up people. She felt I was giving up. Our marriage collapsed under that stress.”

He also said that contrary to claims being made by his wife that Vembu abandoned her and their son, he has supported them till now and continues to do so even today. He said that the statements from Pramila suggesting that she transferred ownership without telling her are "complete fiction". 

He said that his wife is getting influenced by his uncle (father's brother) and both of them have launched a vendetta against him. 

He also noted that while he continues to live in the rural area, his wife and son “enjoy a far richer life” in the US. Vembu said that despite the chaos in their personal lives, Zoho continues to support Pramila’s foundation which is focused on combating autism.

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