Aditya Ghosh is no stranger to taking risky decisions and big bets. After all, it was his unflinching penchant for taking risky decisions that proved instrumental in transforming Indigo Airlines into one of the topmost budget airline companies in the world. Now Ghosh will be expected to walk the same line of fire with great precision and turn the things for OYO Rooms.
In case many of you are still unaware, Aditya Ghosh on Thursday was appointed as the OYO Rooms CEO to lead operations in India and South Asia. However, it would be unwise to think that OYO Rooms was only one in the fray to chase a big catch like Ghosh. There were obviously many other big contenders who were more than desperate to get hold of Ghosh. And one of the big contenders being Tata Sons, one of the biggest giants in the Indian corporate world.
It is no brainer as to why would Tata Sons would love to hire Ghosh. Ghosh’s rich experience in civil aviation would have proved to be a great asset in its bid to acquire Jet Airways. Tatas may would have even hired this maverick man as the new CEO of its newly acquired airline company. However, the former Indigo CEO was apparently least interested in tasting and exploring the blue sky all over again.
Instead the 43 year old maverick chose to take over the reins of an ambitious startup. OYO certainly cannot matchup with Tatas on several critical business metrics, but there is no denying that the SoftBank backed startup still makes for a high profile company. The hospitality and budget hotel startup is apparently standing on a crossroad, with the company vying for aggressive global as well as domestic expansion.
OYO is also sitting on a healthy cash reserves, after SoftBank along with other investors pumped $800 Mn into the company in September.
Ghosh told one of the leading business publications that with OYO Rooms he saw an “awesome opportunity to once again create something that the world has not seen before.” Going by his statement, it seems that he is planning to do pretty exciting things at OYO. And if his tenure at Indigo is any hint then OYO’s investors should brace for some big decisions in coming months.
However, Ghosh’s decision to choose Tata Sons over OYO Rooms is itself a risky decision. The decision though is least surprising, considering that taking leap of faith is in Ghosh’s DNA. Something that should augur well for OYO in the long run.